Xenon-neon gas proportional-scintillation counters for X-rays below 2 keV: a Monte Carlo simulation study

Author

Borges, F.I.G.M. ; Santos, F.P. ; Dias, T.H.V.T. ; Rachinhas, P.J.B.M. ; Conde, C.A.N. ; Stauffer, A.D.

Author_Institution

Dept. de Fisica, Coimbra Univ., Portugal

Volume

49

Issue

3

fYear

2002

fDate

6/1/2002 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

917

Lastpage

922

Abstract

The energy spectra of X-rays with energies below 2 keV measured at atmospheric pressure with standard Xe gas detectors, such as gas proportional-scintillation counters, exhibit distortions that are related to losses of electrons and fluorescence photons to the radiation window. In this paper, a Monte Carlo simulation method that takes into account these losses investigates the use of Xe-Ne mixtures as detection media in this energy range. For a total pressure of 1 atm, energy spectra were calculated for nine mixtures with Xe concentrations varying from 10% to 100%. The results have shown that the addition of Ne to Xe significantly reduces distortion and improves the energy resolution of the full energy peaks.

Keywords

Monte Carlo methods; X-ray spectra; gas scintillation detectors; proportional counters; 1 atm; 2 keV; Monte Carlo simulation; X-rays; Xe-Ne; Xe-Ne proportional-scintillation counters; electrons; energy resolution; fluorescence photons; pressure; Atmospheric measurements; Counting circuits; Distortion measurement; Energy measurement; Gas detectors; Loss measurement; Measurement standards; Pressure measurement; Radiation detectors; X-rays;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2002.1039589

Filename

1039589