Ionization Detectors

Mostly Gaseous Detectors

 Introduction
• Ionization detectors were the first electrical devices developed
for radiation detection
• During the first half of the century: 3 basic types of detectors
• Ionization chamber
• Proportional counter
• Geiger-Müller Counter
• Still used in the lab as radiation counters, but not really used in
nuclear or particle physics experiment anymore
• In the 60’s: multi-wire proportional chambers → application in
particle physics (localizing particle trajectories to less than 1
mm, remember last lecture on semiconductors: CCD etc.)
• Later developments/ improvements for particle physics: drift
chamber and time projection chamber
• Liquid ionization detectors
Gaseous Ionization Detectors
• Great mobility of electrons and Ions in gas → gas
obvious medium to measure ionizing radiation
• Ionization in Gas has been studied thoroughly over the
years, gas mixtures have been optimized for
efficiency, devices have been optimized for fastness
and resolution
• Basic construction of a simple gas detector (ion.
chamber, prop. counter, GM-counter)

Noble gas
Signal
Basic Concepts of a
Gaseous Detector Cathode (radius b)

Positive HV +V0 relative to the wall

applied

r: radial distance
from axis

1 V0 IR
E= Anode (radius a)

r ln(b / a ) The measured current

depends on the field intensity
 Basic
Concepts
Figure: Number of Ions
collected versus applied
voltage
Regions:
I) Recombination before collection
II) All created pairs are collected
Up to III) Ionization avalanche or
cascade develops very quickly
and almost entirely within a few
radii of the wire,
Neipairsaval ~ Neprim
Amplification factor ~ 106
Above III) space charge created
distorts E field, proportionality
begins to be lost
IV) Chain reaction of many avalanches,
caused by photons from deexciting
molecules, saturation, discharge
stopped by quenching gas
→ GM counter aka breakdown counter
 Ionization and Transport
Phenomena in Gases
Ionization Mechanism

• Two types of energy loss of a charged

particle in matter:
(1) excitation: X + p → X* + p
σ≈10-17cm2, exact resonant energy
required
(2) ionization: X + p → X+ + p + e-
σ≈10-16cm2, no exact energy requirement,
however higher energy threshold
• Primary ionization: (2), secondary ionization:
sufficiently large energy is transferred to the
electron (delta-rays), such that it creates
electron-ion pairs itself
 Ionization and Transport
Phenomena in Gases
Ionization Mechanism

• Penning effect: metastable states

excited in process (1), do not decay
immediately but collide with a second
atom, e.g.: Ne* + Ar → Ne + Ar+ + e
• Another possibility: He+ + He → He2+
 Ionization and Transport
Phenomena in Gases
Mean Number of Electron-Ion Pairs

• Ionization is of statistical nature: What is the

average number of ion-electron pairs from all
mechanism created for a given energy loss?
• For gases: of the order of 1 ion-electron pair
per 30 eV, so for example for 3 eV particle an
average of 3000/30=100 ion-electron pairs is
created (see x-rays in the upcoming
experiment)
• This average value does not depend very
strongly on particle type and only weakly on
the gas type.
 Electron and Ion Creation:
energy dissipation per e/ion pair produced: W
first ionization potential: I

gas I [eV] W [eV]

(for electrons)

Ar 15.7 26.4
He 24.5 41.3
H2 15.6 36.5
N2 15.5 34.8
O2 12.5 30.8
Air 33.8
Ch4 14.5 27.3
 The Fano Factor
• Energy resolution: R=(FWHM)/E=∆E/E
• Poisson or Poisson-like statistics: resolution
improves with higher energy, deposited energy E,
average ionization energy w, then J=E/w average
number of Ionizations
• Two cases:
(1) radiation energy not fully absorbed → poisson → σ2 =J,
resolution R=2.35*√J/J=2.35*√(w/E)
(2) Radiation energy fully absorbed → naïve assumption of
poisson not applicable (total energy deposited is a fixed,
constant number, total number of ionizations is thus
constrained by the total energy, ionization events are not
all independent) → resolution of such detectors is much
smaller: σ2 =FJ, F: Fano Factor.
F=1 (Poisson): Scintillator,
F<1: semiconductors and gases
Fano factors for various gas mixtures
are given in table 6.2 of your textbook
 Recombination and Electron
Attachment
• No electrical field → Recombination:
X+ + e- → X + hν or molecular ions:
X+ + Y- → XY + hν
• Rate of recombination: dn=b n- n+ dt,
b: constant depending on gas type,
n-,n+: ion concentration
• If n- = n+ = n, integration: n=n0/(1+bn0t), n0 intial concentration
at t=0
• Electron attachment: capture of free electrons by
electronegative atoms: X + e- → X- + hν (atoms which have
an almost full outer electron shell, energy released is known
as electron affinity.), examples of electronegative gases are
O2, H2O, CO2 etc. → they will decrease detector efficiency
Transport of Electrons and Ions in Gases
Diffusion

• Assume absence of electric field, at thermal energies

mean velocities of electrons and ions produced by
passing radiation are given by:
8kT , k: Boltzmann, T: temperature,
v=
πm m: particle mass
• At room temp.: electrons: ~ 106cm/s, ions ~ 104cm/s
• From kinetic theory: distribution of charges after diffusing
for a time t is gaussian, if N0 total number of charges, x
distance from point of creation, D the diffusion coefficient,
then it can be expressed as

dN N0 x2
= exp( − ) Rms spread in x: σ x = 2 Dt
dx 4πDt 4 Dt
Transport of Electrons and Ions in Gases

Diffusion

• Diffusion coefficient derived from kinetic theory: D=1/3 v

λ, λ mean free path of electron or ion in gas
• For classical ideal gas at temperature T and pressure p:

1 kT
λ=
2 σ0 p

σ0: total cross-section for a collision with a gas

molecule
 Transport of Electrons and Ions in Gases
Drift and Mobility
In the presence of an electric
E-field field the electrons and ions
will be accelerated along the
I+ e- field lines towards the anode
and the cathode respectively For ideal gases:
☼ D/µ=kT/e
Reduced The acceleration will be
interrupted by collisions
electric
Mobility
field Maximum average velocity or µ=u/E
DRIFT VELOCITY u

Compare to thermal velocity: GAS ION µ+ (cm2 V-1 s-1) @STP

u~E/p Ions remain thermal up to Ar Ar+ 1.51
very high fields CH4 CH4+ 2.26
Ar-CH4 80-20 CH4+ 1.61
 Transport of Electrons and Ions in
Gases
Drift and Mobility

• But for electrons?

• Great mobility
• The gain in velocity of the electrons may also
affect the diffusion rate if the electrons
exceed thermal energies, kT in ☼ will be
replaced by the mean energy of the electron
→ diffusion D will be increased accordingly
causing a wider spread of the electron cloud
• Important consequence when building
drift chambers (measuring the position of
a particle track)
Drift Velocities of Electrons in Various Gas
Mixtures as a Function of E Field
 Avalanche Multiplication
• Multiplication in gas detectors occurs when the primary ionization
electrons gain sufficient energy from the accelerating E field to also
ionize gas molecules → secondary electrons → tertiary ionization
etc. → avalanche
• Because of the greater mobility of electrons: avalanche has the
from of a liquid drop:

Probability of Ionization
per unit path length:
α=1/λ
aka as first Townsend
coefficient
Townsend Coefficient
 Avalanche Multiplication
n: number of electrons
dx: path
→ dn = n α dx → new electrons created in dx
Integration → total number of electrons created
in path x: n = n0 exp(αx),
n0: original number of electrons
→ Multiplication factor: M = n/n0 = exp(αx)
More general, e.g. in case of a cylindrical electrical
field: r2
M = exp [∫α(x) x dx]
r1

physically: M < 108 or α x < 20, α x > 20 → breakdown

Multiplication factor is also called gas gain
Rose & Korff: α − Bp
= A exp( ) A,B: constants depending
p E on gas