Evaluation of a pulse-discharge helium ionisation detector for the determination of neon concentrations by gas chromatography

A pulse-discharge helium ionisation detector, PDHID (Valco, PD-D2-I) with sample introduced to the discharge zone is shown to be applicable for reliable determinations of neon by gas chromatography. The detection level of 80 pg was obtained, but the dependence between detector response and neon mass was non-linear. However, for the discharge gas doped with 33 ppm of neon, a linear response to the neon mass up to 10−5 g and the detection level of 0.5 ng were obtained. The method can be used for measuring neon concentrations in groundwater systems for hydrogeological purposes.