Unit 5 of the cylinder and serves as the anode.

The thin mica

Nuclear Detectors window at the end of the tube permits the entry of active

Most of the nuclear reactions are accompanied by the particles or gamma photons. Electrical connections are
emission of charged particles like α – particles, protons, provided to cathode and anode
ano by metallic leads sealed

electrons, and radiations like γ – rays. The working of through the glass tube.
various detection devices is based upon one of the A dc voltage of about 1000V is applied between

following properties of the particles and radiations the tube and the wire making the wire positive with
emitted in the nuclear interactions. respect to the tube. The electrical field near the wire
becomes so high that the electrons can gain sufficient
suf
• They ionize the gas through they pass
energy between collisions to excite inner electrons of the
• They cause fluorescence in certain substances
gas atoms. The photons have enough energy to ionize
• They affect photographic plates.
other atoms through the volume of the counter giving
These properties of the particles and radiations are
usually employed in their detection and measurement.
The instruments which are used for the detection of
nuclear radiations are: Geiger – Muller counter and
Scintillation counter.
Geiger – Muller counter
The GM counter is a very sensitive electrical method of
studying the statistical effect of nuclear disintegration more electrons. These give rise to further electrons
from which thee nature, energy and even the number of giving an avalanche in a short time (1µs) and the whole
fragments flying off from the nuclei can be determined. process grows until a discharge extends along the whole

Principle length of the wire. Electrons are collected quickly

The basic principle that underlies the method is that leaving positive ions behind and the discharge stops
charged particles in motion through a gas produce when the build – up of positive charge near the wire
ionization varying with nature and velocity. reduces the electric
ric field below the Geiger action level.

Construction and working The resulting voltage pulse is large and can be counted

It consists of a cylindrical sealed glass tube of radius 2 – without amplification.

3 cm enclosing a co-axial
axial metal cylinder serving as the The positive ions drift towards the cathode after

cathode. The counter is evacuated and filled with the discharge is neutralized. The secondary electrons
suitable gas at the chosen pressure. The gas contained in which are released from the surface
sur do not have any

unter may be either air, hydrogen, argon, or a effect to trigger further discharge; here a molecular gas
the counter
mixture of 90% argon and 10% ethyl alcohol. The is used for quenching. In this case the atomic ions of the
introduction of gas mixture in the counter not only primary gas exchange their charges with the molecular
lowers the values of high tension to be applied but also gas. Therefore only molecular ions reach the cathode.
wire The excess energy is used in molecular dissociation and
aids in quenching the discharge. A very thin metal w
ched along the axis not in the release of free electrons.
of diameter 0.1mm (tungsten) is stretche ele Quenching periods
 Dead time of the counter is defined as the time interval
between the production of the initial pulse and the
initiation of the second Geiger discharge. This is usually
50 to 100µs. This occurs due to the slow movement of
the heavier positive ions from anode to cathode.
cat
Recovery time is the time interval after which the
counter returns to its original state to produce the full
sized pulses again.
are a few hundred microseconds. As the quenching gases Resolving time
are used, the GM tube has a finite operating life time. A counting system with a resolving time τ responds at a
The designs of the outer electrode as well as the rate ‘n’ count per unit time when exposed to N initiating
ini
nature of the gas used vary according to the different events per unit time.
uses of the counter. To detect γ – ray the tube has pretty In unit time the total insensitive time is ‘nτ’
‘n and the
thick glass window, for the study of β – particles a thin number of counts missed is Nnτ
Nn
aluminum window to admit the radiation and to detect α Number of counts missed = Error in counting
– particles the tube iss filled with dry air at atmospheric Nnττ = N – n
pressure and an extremely thin foil window. ௡
Actual count rate N =
ଵି௡த
The characteristics curve of the GM counter is a
Hence the actual count rate can be calculated by
function of the voltage versus the rate of counting. For
knowing τ.
low voltage, the counter operates the ionization chamber
Scintillation Counter
region where there is no gas amplification. Voltage
pulses are small and the counts are not able to be
recorded. Unless the voltage across the tube exceeds a
minimum value known as threshold value no counts are
recorded. As the voltage is increased beyond threshold
voltage,
ltage, the count rate increases gradually as the gas
amplification now sets in and output size increases
gradually. This is the region of proportional counting
where more and more energy particles are counted till
1200V. Beyond this region the counting rat
rate becomes The scintillation counter is a sensitive device used for
constant. The flat part of the curve is called the plateau the detection and measurement of high energy atomic
region of the counter. radiations especially α – particles. It is based upon the
The GM counter is operated in the plateau principle that radiations like α – particles can produce
region. The nature of the plateau depends on the filling luminescence is called phosphorescence. This
of the gas. luminescence consists of large number of individual
flashes called scintillationss which
w can be viewed by a
magnifying lens. It has been
een experimentally found that
each α – particle produces one scintillation and the trajectory by a static magnetic field and accelerated by a
number of scintillations viewed on the screen per second rapidly varying (radio frequency) electric field.
is equal to the number of α – particles striking the screen Principle:
per second. This can be counted using a low power A charged particle can be accelerated to very high
microscope. energies by making it pass through a moderate electric
field a number of times. This can be done with the help
of perpendicular magnetic field which throws the
charged particle into a circular motion, the frequency of
which does not depend on the speed of the particle and
the radius of the circular orbit.

The working is based on the fact that when high energy

charged particles pass through certain transparent
materials fluorescent light is produced all along the path.
As the fast moving particles collide with atoms and
molecules of the material, electrons are raised to excite Construction:
energy levels and in returning to their ground states they As shown in figure, a cyclotron consists of the following
emit light and thus scintillations are produced. The main parts:
scintillating material is called phosphor. The phosphor is 1. It consists of two small, hollow, metallic half-
usually covered with a thin layer of aluminum. The most cylinders D1 and D2 called Dees as they are in
commonly used phosphors are anthracene, naphthalene the shape of D.
and stilbene. Sodium iodide crystals and potassium 2. They are mounted inside a vacuum
iodide crystals activated with thallium are also used as chamber between the poles of a powerful
phosphors. The tiny flash of light is made to fall on the electromagnet.
photo – cathode of a very sensitive photoelectric cell 3. The Dees are connected to the source of high
called photomultiplier tube. This tube is an electron frequency alternating voltage of few hundred
multiplier. The current pulses are recorded by a count kilovolts.
rate meter. 4. The beam of charged particles to be accelerated
Cyclotron is injected into the Dees near their centre, in a
A cyclotron is a type of particle accelerator. It plane perpendicular to the magnetic field.
accelerates charged particles outwards from the center
along a spiral path. The particles are held to a spiral
 5. The charged particles are pulled out of the Dees Working:
by a deflecting plate (which is negatively Suppose a positive ion, say a proton, enters the
charged) through a window. gap between the two Dees and finds Dee D1 to be
6. The whole device is in high vacuum negative. It gets accelerated towards D1.As it enters the
(pressure ∼10 mm of Hg) so that the air D1, it does not experience any electric field due to
−6

molecules may not collide with the charged shielding effect of the metallic Dee. The perpendicular
particles. magnetic field throws it into a circular path. At the
Theory: instant the proton comes out of D1, it finds D1 positive
Let a particle of charge e and mass m enter a region and D2 negative. It moves faster through D2 describing
ሬԦ with a velocity ‫ݒ‬Ԧ normal to the a larger semicircle than before. Thus if the frequency of
of magnetic field ‫ܤ‬
ሬԦ.
field ‫ܤ‬ A positive ion leaves the ion source at the the applied voltage is kept exactly the same as the
centre of the chamber at the instant when the ‘Dees’ D1 frequency of revolution of the proton, then every time
and D2 are at maximum negative and positive AC the proton reaches the gap between the two Dees, the
potentials respectively. The positive ions will be electric field is reversed and proton receives a push and
accelerated towards the negative D1 before entering it. finally it acquires very high energy. This is called the
The particle follows a circular path. cyclotron’s resonance condition. The proton follows a
ଵ
The velocity is given by ܸ݁ = ଶ ݉‫ ݒ‬ଶ
spiral path. The accelerated proton is ejected through a
window by a deflecting voltage and hits the target.
Where V is the applied voltage, e and m are the charge
Energy of the ions:
and mass of the ion respectively. When the ions are
Let rmax be the radius of the outermost orbit and vmax the
inside the ‘Dee’ it is not accelerated since the space is
maximum velocity gained by the ion in its final orbit.
left free. Under the action of applied magnetic field, the
Bevmax = mvmax2/rmax
ions travel in a circular path of radius ‘r’ given by
vmax = Brmaxe/m
Bev = mv2/r
Energy of the ion is E = ½ mvmax2
r = mv/Be
= ½ m(Brmaxe/m)2
The angular velocity of the ion in its circular path
The time taken by the ion to travel the semicircular path
ω = v/r
= Half the time period of oscillation
= Be/m
πm/Be = T/2
The time taken by the ion to travel the semicircular path
T = 2πm/Be
t = π/ω
Frequency f = 1/T
= πm/Be
= Be/2πm
Clearly, this frequency is independent of both the
From the above equation e/m =2π f/B
velocity of the particle and the radius of the orbit and is
Therefore the equation for energy becomes
called cyclotron frequency or magnetic resonance
E = 2mπ2 f2rmax2
frequency. This is the key fact which is made use of in
The particles are ejected out of the cyclotron not
the operation of a cyclotron.
continuously but as pulsed streams.
Limitations of cyclotron: Synchrocyclotron
1. According to the Einstein’s special theory of Synchrocyclotron is a modified form of
relativity, the mass of a particle increases with cyclotron. This consists of only one Dee placed in a
௠బ
the increase in its velocity as ݉ = మ
, vacuum chamber between the poles of an electromagnet.
ටଵିೡమ
೎ Instead of the second Dee there is a metal sheet
where m0 is the rest mass of the particle. At high connected to the earth. The alternating PD is applied
velocities, the cyclotron frequency (fc=qB/2πm) between the Dee and the metal plate. The potential is
will decrease due to increase in mass. This will made to rise and fall periodically. The frequency is
throw the particles out of resonance with the changed at such a rate that as the ion lags a little due to
oscillating field. That is, as the ions reach the gap the increase in mass caused by increase in velocity, the
between the Dees, the polarity of the Dees is not electric field frequency also automatically lags in
reversed at that instant. Consequently the ions variation. Hence the particle always enters the Dee at the
are not accelerated further. The above drawback correct moment, when it can experience maximum
is overcome either by increasing magnetic field acceleration. Advantage of using one Dee is that it
as in a synchrotron or by decreasing the leaves sufficient space in the vacuum chamber for the
frequency of the alternating electric field as in a ion source and the target. The pole pieces of the magnet
Synchro-cyclotron. are of suitable shape such that the field decreases
2. Electrons cannot be accelerated in a cyclotron. A outwards from the centre. This ensures good focusing of
large increase in their energy increases their the accelerated ions.
velocity to a very large extent. This throws the
electrons out of step with the oscillating field.
3. Neutron, being electrically neutral, cannot be
accelerated in a cyclotron
Uses of Cyclotron:
1. The high energy particles produced in a cylinder
are used to bombard nuclei and study the
resulting nuclear reactions and hence investigate
nuclear structure.
2. The high energy particles are used to produce
other high energy particles, such as Neutrons by According to the Einstein’s special theory of
collisions. These fast neutrons used in atomic relativity, the mass of a particle increases with the
௠బ
reactions. increase in its velocity as ݉ = మ
, where m0 is the
3. It is used to implant ions into solids and modify ටଵିೡమ
೎

their properties or even synthesis new materials. rest mass of the particle. At high velocities, the cyclotron
4. It is used to produce radioactive isotopes which frequency (fc=qB/2πm) will decrease due to increase in
are used in hospitals for diagnosis and treatment. mass. This will throw the particles out of resonance with
the oscillating field. That is, as the ions reach the gap ௗம
E=-
ௗ௧
between the Dees, the polarity of the Dees is not
The work done on an electron of the charge ‘e’ in one
reversed at that instant. Consequently the ions are not ௗம
revolution = Ee = - e
accelerated further. The above drawback is overcome ௗ௧

either by increasing magnetic field as in a synchrotron or

by decreasing the frequency of the alternating electric
field as in a Synchro-cyclotron
Betatron
Betatron is a device to accelerate electrons to very high
energies.
Construction:
The betatron consists of an evacuated doughnut chamber
in which electrons are produced by indirectly heated Let F be the tangential electric force acting on the
cathode. The doughnut tube is placed between two orbiting electron. For one revolution, the path is 2πr.
strong electromagnet, such that, when the a.c current is Then the work done on the electron in one revolution =
passed in the electromagnets the flux increases in the F x 2πr.
centre of the doughnut. The electrons are produced in ௗம
F x 2πr = - e ௗ௧
the electron gun and are allowed to move in a circular ௗம
F = - e ௗ௧ / 2πr
orbit of constant radius in the vacuum chamber. The
magnetic field varies very slowly compared with the When the velocity of the electron increases due to the
above force, it will try to move into an orbit of larger
frequency of the revolution of the electrons in the
equilibrium orbit. radius. Because of the presence of the magnetic flux

The varying magnetic field, acting parallel to the axis of perpendicular to the plane of the electron orbit, the

the vacuum tube, produces two effects on the electrons electron will experience a radial force given by Bev =
mv2/r
• The changing flux due to the electromagnet
The momentum of the electron is mv = Ber
produces the induced emf which is responsible
From Newton’s second law of motion
for the acceleration of the electrons.
ௗ(௠௩) ௗ஻
F= = er ௗ௧
• The field of the magnet serves at the same time ௗ௧

to bend the electrons in a circular path in the To maintain the constant radius the values of F in both
chamber and to confine them to the region of the equations should be numerically equal.
changing flux. ௗம ௗ஻
- e ௗ௧ / 2πr = er ௗ௧
Theory
dϕ = 2πr2dB.
Consider the electron moving in the orbit of
On integrating the above equation we get, ϕ = 2πr2B
radius ‘r’. Let ϕ be the flux linked with the orbit. The
Therefore the flux through the orbit is twice the flux
ௗம
flux increases at the rate of ௗ௧
and the induced emf in enclosed by the orbit if the magnetic field were to be
the orbit is given by uniform over the area.