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An ion pulse ionization chamber for spectrometric measurements of low surface α activities

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Abstract

The design of a pulse ionization chamber for measuring the surface αactivity of various samples is described. When used together with the appropriate methods for recording and processing the signals, a low-background spectrometer based on this chamber is able to ensure a high sensitivity in direct measurements of ultralow surface α activities. This approach offers a solution to the problem of controlling superpure materials used in detectors for studying rare nuclear processes with a broken equilibrium in the decay chains of the uranium and thorium series. A procedure for modeling the shape of the current pulses according to the orientation of α-particle tracks and their location inside the chamber is described. Results obtained with an α source, as well as with copper and VM2000 light-reflecting film samples, are presented.

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Original Russian Text © Yu.M. Gavrilyuk, A.M. Gangapshev, V.V. Kazalov, V.V. Kuz’minov, S.I. Panasenko, S.S. Ratkevich, 2009, published in Pribory i Tekhnika Eksperimenta, 2009, No. 2, pp. 24–33.

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Gavrilyuk, Y.M., Gangapshev, A.M., Kazalov, V.V. et al. An ion pulse ionization chamber for spectrometric measurements of low surface α activities. Instrum Exp Tech 52, 173–182 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0020441209020055

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