Dependence of Thickness of Lead Zirconate Titanate Material Used as Radiation Detector

The characteristics of a radiation detector fabricated with stacks of piezoelectric lead zirconate titanate (PZT) elements were studied by irradiation with a 400 MeV/n xenon (Xe) beam. The detector was designed to monitor the output voltage formed on the surface of each element. Three additional PZT elements were placed in front of the detector to increase the thickness of the PZT target. It seemed that the individual output voltage observed at a position beyond the range was dependent on the amount of strain generated by the ionization loss energy of Xe ions within the range. (C) 2009 The Japan Society of Applied Physics