Reliability of stopping power tables and codes for heavy ions (8 ≤ Z ≤ 92) in gases

A comparative study of various stopping power tables and codes for heavy ions in gases has been made through comparison of computed values and the corresponding experimental data. Ten gaseous media: five monatomic rare gases (He to Xe), two diatomic gases (H2, N2) and three polyatomic gaseous compounds (CH4, CF4 and CO2) have been chosen to study the stopping power investigations of heavy ions (8 ≤ Z ≤ 92) having energy ranges of ∼0.10–10.00 MeV/n and ∼20.00–57.00 MeV/n. We compare the experimental data of stopping power to values calculated using various tables and computer codes by ICRU-73, Ziegler et al (SRIM2003.26), Grande and Schiwietz (CasP3.1), Paul and Schinner (MSTAR3.12), and Bazin and Tarasov (LISE ++:2-ATIMA1.2). On the basis of statistical analysis, we estimate the reliability of these tables and codes. It has been observed that the MSTAR3.12 code shows the best agreement with the experimental data for projectile ions (8 ≤ Z ≤ 18) in the entire energy range. The SRIM2003.26 code provides good results except for some heavy projectiles (Xe, Pb and U). The values tabulated by CasP3.1 code underestimate especially at low energy region. No significant trend is observed in case of LISE++:2-ATIMA1.2 code and ICRU-73 report.