J. Moscow Phys. Soc. 7 (1997) 153-162.

The space-time evolution of the track of an atomic nucleus

fission fragment in a helium-metal vapour mixture
Oks ana Katsuro-Hopkins, 2nd Autho r
A P Budnik, I V Dobrovol'skaya, and 0 N Katsuro
State Scientific Center of the Russian Federation—Institute of Physics and Power
Engineering, Bondarenko sq. 1, 249020 Obninsk, Kaluga Region, Russia

Received 25 September 1996

Abstract. Results of mathematical modelling of the space-time evolution of the

track of a fission fragment are presented. The degradation of the energy of nuclear
fission fragments in a helium-cadmium mixture are studied.

1. Introduction

The degradation of the energy of fission fragments in inert gases is very important
for the development of a device to generate nuclear energy at optical wavelengths
(a "flash-lamp"— a nuclear-pumped laser). The theory of energy degradation for rapid
electrons in gases is currently well developed. The state of the theory of energy degra-
dation of multiply-charged ions, including fission fragments, is considerably worse.
The interaction of fission fragments with matter is fundamentally different from the
interactions of other charged particles with matter due to the strong influence of so-
called track effects. Because of these effects, the kinetics of the energy degradation of
fission fragments are, as a rule, significantly inhomogeneous.
In recent years, a theory for the space–time evolution of the tracks of fission
fragments in inert gases has been developed [1-3]. This theory is capable of rather
correctly taking account of a whole series of processes: the diffusion of electrons in
ions, the energy relaxation of electrons during collisions, electron–ion recombination,
the creation of an electric field and the drift of charged particles under its influence.
This paper concerns the theoretical study of the energy degradation of fission frag-
ments in mixtures of helium and metal vapours. We present results of mathematical
modelling of the space–time evolution of a fission fragment track in a helium–cadmium
mixture. In contrast to previous studies [1-3], we take account of electron–electron

153


The fission fragment track space-time evolution tho

and St ee (fo) is the electron-electron collision integral. In (5), the sum over a
corresponds to various inelastic collisions between electrons and atoms, with

U 2 l = U 2 + 2ea
rn
for elastic collisions (5a)

U 22 = U2 2ea
— for superelastic collisions (5h)
m
where e a is the excitation energy for atoms in the a state.
St ee (fo), representing the flux of electrons in velocity space due to electron-
electron collisions, is determined by the formulas

4re 2 ) 2 1 a
St ee = (----
rn I n A w 2 fo (r, w ,t) dw fo(r, u, t)
2u 2 eu
0

(u 00
0 fo (r u,t
+ -i1u- w4/0(r,w,t)dw u 3 1 wfo (r, w, t).dw (6)
Ou

where A is the ratio of the Debye radius ID to the Coulomb radius ro, defined as
1/2
kTe
(6a)
t)e 2
2e 2
3k7; (6b)

where Te is the effective temperature.

We write the boundary conditions for the system of equations (1)-(3) in the form
8
-07. fo(r,u,t)l„. 0 = 0 (7)
8
87 Nik(r,t)I r=0 = 0 (8)
E(r, t)ir=0 = 0 (9)
fo(r, u, t)l„. 0 (10)
Nik (r, —o 0 (11)
—0 4 . (12'
In order not to excessively complicate the problem, we will describe the evolutio
of a track at a moment in time when the electrons have experienced several collisiot
after the flight of the fragment. In this time, the electrons diffuse over a distance
the order of several mean free paths. Consequently, examining the evolution for mu
longer times, we can with some small error specify the electron and ion concentratit
to be Gaussian distributions. Then, the initial conditions can be written

Nii m der(e) r2
1 2\\-1_,Ar
fo(r, Olt=o = 4ru de /7 4%to • k ir r 47e4""kUi
 The fission fragment track space-time evolution
Table 2
Plasma-chemical reactions in the He-Cd plasma model

No Reaction Reaction rate

1 He+ .+He+He=He: +He 0.3x 10 -31 cm 6 /s

2 He++He+He+He=He:+He+He 1.82x 10' 1 cm 9 /s

3 He: +CdsCd**+ +He+He 6.12x10' cm 3 /s

4 He: +Cd=Cds+ +Hei-He 7.92x 10 -1° cm 3 /s

5 He(20.6)+Cd=CdPs++Hq+e 0.35x 10' 3 cm3 /s

6 He(20.6)+Cd=CdP**++He+e 0.35x 10" I ° cm 3 /s

7 He(20.6)+Cd=CdS++He+e 2.55x 10' cm 3 /s

8 Cd**+=CdPs++hv i 2.9x 10+ 6 s"

9 Cds+ =Car"' +hv2 1.2x 10+ 6 s'

10 CdP**+=CdS++hv3 5.15x10+" s"

II CdPs+ sCdS++hv4 4.314x 10+" s-1

cross-sections for collisions between electrons and helium atoms from and cross-
sections for the excitation of helium atoms by electrons from [81. Data on associative
ionization, the conversion of atomic to molecular helium ions, and dissociative recom-
bination were adopted from [9-111. The probabilities for transitions between excited
states of helium were calculated using the oscillator strengths presented in [121.
In the model, we took account of such plasma-chemical reactions determining
the character of processes in the helium-cadmium plasma as Penning ionization of the
cadmium atoms, the conversion of atomic helium and cadmium ions to molecular ions,
the recharging of molecular helium ions on cadmium atoms, and processes involving
the plasma electrons—ionization and recombination processes, and excitation and
deexcitation of the helium atoms by electrons ; etc. In addition, we allowed for radiative
transitions between excited states of the helium atoms and cadmium ions. Table 1
presents all components of the plasma considered with their formation energies, and
Table 2 presents the plasma-chemical reactions in which they take part, together
with the corresponding reaction rates and their dependence on the temperature of thf
medium.

3. Results

We carried out mathematical modelling of the evolution of a track of a fission fragr

in a neutral gas—a mixture of helium (NH. = 2.68 x 10 19 cm -3) and satui
cadmium vapours at a temperature of 650 K. We take the parameter (r 2 ) 0
equal to ( r2 ) = 4 x 10 -8 cm 2 . Figures 1-9 show the results of our calculations
radial dependence of the concentrations of electrons, atomic and molecular 7
atoms (He+, and cadmium ions in the ground (CdS) and excited 4d 9 5s 2
state (Cd*+) at various times after the passage of the fission fragment are sl

The fission fragment track space-time evolution 159
N
Cd .*
, CITC 3
10 9 t= 0.13 ns

10' t= 1.2 ns

1111 t=30
10 5
t = 45 ns
10 3

10 '

0 200 400 600 800 1000 r, 10 5 cm

-

Figure 4. Radial dependence of the concentration of cadmium ions Cd in the exited

state 4d 9 58 2 2 D s/3 (Ce+ ) at various times.

N CdS cm -3 9

10 6

10 4

10 2

10°
0 200 400 600 800 1000 r, 10 5 CM
-

Figure 5. Radial dependence of the concentration of cadmium ions in the ground state
(CdS) at various times.

Figures 1-5. It is clear (Figure 1) that the electrons rapidly leave the region near the
track axis due to diffusion, so that a rather strong electric field 10 2 V/cm) arises
there.
The electrons create a significant number of He+ ions via inelastic collisions; the
concentration of these ions rapidly grows, especially far from the track axis (Figure 2).
The concentration of atomic helium ions He+ then decreases due to diffusion and
drift, and, especially, due to conversion into molecular helium ions Het (Figure 2).
The concentration of molecular helium ions thus grows due to the cerversion process
(Figure 3); due to recharging, the concentration of atomic cadmium io ns also grows
(Figures 4-5). Figure 6 shows the concentrations of various plasma components at
time 45 ns. We can see that near the track, the component with the largest concen-
tration is molecular helium ions Het ; the concentration of positive ions significantly
exceeds the concentration of electrons near the track axis.
Superelastic collisions significantly affect the evolution of the track. In particular,
even at large times, these collisions determine the electron energy distribution near
 The fission fragment track space-time evolution 161
f(s) , eV -312
10-1 4

10 - ' 7
10 -20
10 -2 3
10 -26
10 -29
10 42
10 -35
....■■■•■■1

0 5 10 15 20 25 e, eV

Figure 8. Electron energy distribution function f(E) a distance r from the track axis
at time t.45 ns.

E, V / cm

200

150

100

50

0
0 100 200 300 400 500 r, 10 - scm

Figure 9. Radial dependence of the electric field strength at the track at various times.

complex composition (helium with cadmium vapours). Our results may be useful for
the development of the theory of microscopic kinetic processes in nuclear-pumped
lasers based on metal vapours, taking account of the track structure of the plasma.

References

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[2] Budnik A P, Vakulovskiy A S, and Sokolov Yu V 1992 Proc. Conf. "LYaN-92" vol 1
(Obninsk: Physical-Energetic Institute) p 178
[3] Budnik A P, Vakulovskiy A S, Dobrovol'skaya I V, and Sokolov Yu V 1993 Physical-Energetic
Institute Preprint-2315
[4] Georjuoy E 1966 Phys. Rev. 148 54
[5] Reymann K, Schartner K-H, Sommer B, and Trabert E 1988 Phys. Rev. A 38 2290
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