Measurement of charge of heavy ions in emulsion using a CCD camera

Abstract A system has been developed for semi-automated determination of the charges of heavy ions recorded in nuclear emulsions. The profiles of various heavy ion tracks in emulsion, both accelerator beam ions and fragments of heavy projectiles, were obtained with a CCD camera mounted on a microscope. The dependence of track profiles on illumination, emulsion grain size and density, background in emulsion, and track geometry was analyzed. Charges of the fragments of heavy projectiles were estimated independently by the delta ray counting method. A calibration of both width and height of track profiles against ion charges was made with ions of known charges ranging from helium to gold nuclei.