Dependence of Structure Variation, Pyrolysis, and Nonlinear Optical Dispersion on the Chemical Etching of Poly Allyl Diglycol Carbonate (PADC) Irradiated with $${\alpha}$$-Particles

Abstract

The nuclear tracks created in poly allyl diglycol carbonate (PADC type CR-39) due to exposure to $$\alpha$$ particles for specific times followed by chemical etching for definite time periods at 4, 7, 11, and 13 hours are prepared. The measured IR spectrum for investigated films clarified a decrease in peak intensity against increase in etched layer thickness (ELT). This is argued to the formation of free radicals due to etching. Furthermore, pyrolysis of the investigated films displayed that the actual structural variation occurs in the second and third stages of degradation. The calculated activation energy values for thermal decomposition of studied PADC exhibited an increase against etching time periods. Other thermal parameters such as enthalpy, Gibbs free energy, and entropy are calculated and discussed. Moreover, the two nonlinear optical parameters, second-order index of refraction ( $$n_{2}$$ ) and third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, $$\chi^{(3)}$$ , are also calculated and displayed that $$n_{2}$$ and $$\chi^{(3)}$$ increase by one order of magnitude against the irradiation times which is attributed to the structural damage due to irradiation by $$\alpha$$ particle.