Anisotropy in the track development properties of various crystallographic planes of natural quartz crystals

Abstract

Fission fragment track development properties of x-cut (1, 0, 0), y-cut (0, 1, 0) and z-cut (0, 0, 1) planes in natural quartz crystals have been studied. Both HF and boiling solution of NaOH have been used as etchants. It has been found that x-cut and y-cut planes show quite significant anisotropy in the angular distribution of etched tracks. The degree of isotropy is higher when boiling solution of NaOH is used as an etchant than HF etching. Among the planes studied, the x-cut plane is found to be the most sensitive, while no etchable tracks could be obtained in z-cut plane. In the early stages of the etching process, the degree of isotropy seems to increase with the increasing etching time. Attempts have been made to explain these observations.