THE MECHANISM OF THE OPERATION OF A PROPORTIONAL COUNTER

Journal Article · Sat Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 1961 · Izvest. Akad. Nauk. S.S.S.R., Ser. Fiz.

OSTI ID:4842733

Korolev, G A; Kocharov, G E

A natural mixture of uranium isotopes was used to study the resolution of a 28-channel proportional counter operating at a pressure of 1.3 to 1.5 atm with a mixture of argon and methane. The counter was carefully constructed to eliminate voltage instability, end effects, and noise background. The gaseous ampliflcation factor A, which depends on the gas pressure, type of gas, and the geometry of the counter, was measured from the change in the ampliflcation factor of the amplifier. In mixtures of argon and methane, the gaseous amplification factor A decreases with the addition of 6% or more of methane to the argon, as compared to the value of A in pure argon. However, at small concentrations of methane impurity (( 6%), the gaseous amplification factor A does not decrease, but rather increases. It is pointed out that an increase in gaseous amplification factor A is possible in all cases where the ionization potential of the impurity is less than the excitation energy of the main gas. Hence, the theory of Rose and Korff is not valid for gaseous mixtures where there is a possibility of forming additional electrons due to secondary collisions between excited atoms of the noble gas (argon) and molecules of the impurity (methane). (TTT)

• Research Organization: Ioffe Inst. of Physics and Tech., Academy of Sciences, USSR
• NSA Number: NSA-15-029445
• OSTI ID: 4842733
• Journal Information: Izvest. Akad. Nauk. S.S.S.R., Ser. Fiz., Journal Name: Izvest. Akad. Nauk. S.S.S.R., Ser. Fiz. Vol. Vol: 25
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: Russian

Related Subjects

AMPLIFIERS
ARGON
ATOMS
COLLISIONS
ELECTRIC POTENTIAL
ELECTRONS
ENERGY
ENGINEERING AND EQUIPMENT
GASES
IMPURITIES
METHANE
MOLECULES
PRESSURE
PROPORTIONAL COUNTERS
RARE GASES
RESOLUTION
STABILITY
URANIUM ISOTOPES