1 Introduction to Nuclear Track Detectors 1.1 Cloud, Bubble and Spark Chambers (a) The Cloud Chamber (b) The Bubble Chamber (c) The Spark Chamber 1.2 Nuclear Emulsions 1.3 Silver Halide Crystals 1.4 Etchable Solid State Nuclear Track Detectors (SSNTDs)2 Interactions of Charged Particles with Matter 2.1 Nuclear Collision Losses 2.2 Electronic Energy Losses 2.3 Direct Production of Atomic Displacements 2.4 Secondary Electrons 2.5 Range-Energy Relations3 The Nature of Charged-Particle Tracks and Some Possible Track Formation Mechanisms in Insulating Solids 3.1 Radiation Damage in Solids (a) The Seitz Model (b) The Varley Model (c) The Pooley Mechanism 3.2 Track-Storing Materials 3.3 Track-forming Particles: Criteria for Track Formation (a) Total Rate of Energy Loss, dE/dx (b) Primary Ionization, J (c) Restricted Energy Loss (REL) (d) Secondary-Electron Energy Loss (e) Radius-Restricted Energy Loss (RREL) (f) Lineal Event-Density (LED) 3.4 Experimental Studies on the Size and Structure of Latent-Damage Trails 3.4.1 Electron Microscopy 3.4.2 Low-Angle X-Ray Scattering 3.4.3 Thermal Annealing of Tracks 3.4.4 The Radial Extent of the Etchable Damage 3.4.5 Other Experimental Evidence for Track Structure 3.5 Critical Appraisal of Track Formation Models 3.5.1 The Thermal-Spike Model 3.5.2 The Ion-Explosion Spike Model4 Track Etching: Methodology and Geometry 4.1 Track Etching Recipes 4.2 Track Etching Geometry 4.2.1 Constant Track Etching Velocity VT 4.2.2 Determination of Track Parameters R and VT 4.2.3 Etching Efficiencies: Internal and External Track sources 4.2.4 Track Etching Geometry with Varying VT 4.2.5 Track Etching Geometry in Anisotropic Solids 4.3 Some Special Techniques for Track Parameter Measurements 4.4 Environmental Effects on Track Etching5 Thermal Fading of Latent Damage Trails 5.1 The Nature of the Annealing Process 5.2 The Effects of Pre-annealing on the Etched Tracks 5.3 Typical Annealing Temperatures for Fission Tracks in Various Materials 5.4 Closing Temperatures 5.5 Annealing Correction Methods 5.6 Track Seasoning6. The Use of Dielectric Track Recorders in Particle Identification 6.1 Calibration 6.1.1 The L-R plot 6.2 Charge Assignment 6.3 Low-Energy Particles 6.4 Charge and Mass Resolution 6.5 Some Applications of Particle Identification Techniques 6.5.1 Cosmic Ray Physics 6.5.2 Nuclear Physics 6.6 The Ancient Cosmic Rays7. Radiation Dosimetry and SSNTD Instrumentation 7.1 Neutron Dosimetry 7.1.1 Thermal Neutrons 7.1.2 Fast and Intermediate-Energy Neutrons 7.2 Alpha Particle Dosimetry and Radon Measurements 7.3 Charged Particles other than Alphas 7.3.1 Dosimetry of High-LET Radiations in Space 7.3.2 Microdosimetry of Negative-Pion Beams 7.4 SSNTD Instrumentation: Automatic Evaluation and Methods of Track Image Enhancement 7.4.1 The Spark Counter 7.4.2 Other Electrical-Breakdown Devices 7.4.3 Scintillator-Filled Etch Pit Counting 7.4.4 Electrochemical Etching (ECE) 7.4.5 Automatic and Semi-Automatic Image-Analysis Systems 7.4.6 Other Methods of Measurement8 Fission Track Dating 8.1 Radioactive Dating 8.2 The Fission Track Age Equation 8.3 Practical Steps in Obtaining a Fission Track Age 8.3.1 The Population Method 8.3.2 The External-Detector Method 8.4 The Interpretation of Fission Track Ages 8.5 Neutron Dosimetry, Fission Decay Constant of 238U, and Age Standards 8.5.1 Neutron Fluence Measurements 8.5.2 The Fission Decay Constant 8.5.3 Age Standards 8.