Pion production of heavily ionizing particles from aluminum

Total cross sections for producing alpha particles in an energy range from 0.6 to 5 MeV and protons with equivalent energy losses have been measured for π meson beams incident on aluminum from 60 through 400 MeV. A simple in-beam measurement was accomplished by use of CR-39 track detector material. The large cross sections found indicate directly that an important means for energetic π mesons to induce damage in silicon semiconductor elements is by production of alpha particles, their subsequent energy loss in the material, and recoils of daughter nuclei. © 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.