Widely used in the 1950s and 1960s, emulsion detectors have fallen out of favor with physicists for faster, more digitally oriented modern devices. However, there are benefits to using emulsion that the latest detectors cannot compete with. The key to emulsions is that they are extremely sensitive with the ability to resolve particle tracks to less than 1 µm. They are continuously sensitive, recording everything that passes through them, providing data about the mass, energy, and modes of interaction and decay of incident particles. Additionally, they have excellent angular and spatial resolution.

Click on the links below to find out more about nuclear emulsion. It is recommended to proceed in order.

How long has emulsion been around?

How are tracks recorded?

How is the film exposed?

How long do the images last?

How are the emulsion sheets both targets and detectors?

How about processing?

How are the sheets scanned?

What do the tracks look like?

What do the tracks tell you?

So how do you identify particles?

Last updated: 6/29/01 comments