Nanoscale Track Diameter and Hydrogen Yield: Dependence upon Charge State of Incident Ion on Polystyrene

The study of radiation damage of highmolecular weight substances due to MeV ion interactions is of interest for engineering and scientific applications. In the present study polystyrene (PS) was irradiated with Ag ions of three different charge states (q) 11, 14 and 25 and of 130 MeV energy. The emission of hydrogen from PS was monitored as a function of the incident ion fluence. The experimental results showed that the hydrogen depletion per incident ion from PS varies as q, where n was found to be 2.1 as compared to the value 2.7 to 3.0 reported in the literature. Radii of the nanometric damaged zones or ion tracks formed were analyzed from the slope of the hydrogen depletion versus ion fluence curves as a function of charge state of incident ion. These have values between 3.2 6.8 nm. These radii were found to depend upon the charge state of the incident ion and vary as q, where m has the value 0.9.