Background in X-ray astronomy proportional counters

Author

Bower, C.R. ; Dietz, K.L. ; Ramsey, B.D. ; Weisskopf, M.C.

Author_Institution

NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, AL, USA

Volume

38

Issue

2

fYear

1991

fDate

4/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

585

Lastpage

590

Abstract

The authors report the results of an investigation into the nature of background events in proportional counters sensitive to X-ray photons having energy <150 keV. Even with the use of thick shields composed of high-atomic-number material, a significant flux background in the detector´s energy region call result from multiple Compton scattering in the mass surrounding the active region of the detector. The importance of the selection of detector components in the reduction of the background by more than an order of magnitude is emphasized. Experimental results are shown to agree qualitatively with Monte Carlo simulations. It is concluded that escape gating is a powerful means of determining the nature of background in flight detectors: the single/pair ratios reveal whether the detected events are charged particles or photons

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; X-ray astronomy; X-ray detection and measurement; astronomical telescopes; proportional counters; Monte Carlo simulations; X-ray astronomy proportional counters; X-ray photons; active region; background events; charged particles; escape gating; flight detectors; flux background; high-atomic-number material; multiple Compton scattering; single/pair ratios; telescope; thick shields; Absorption; Astronomy; Cathodes; Counting circuits; Event detection; Fluorescence; Instruments; X-ray detection; X-ray detectors; Xenon;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/23.289361

Filename

289361