An ionization chamber is a type of radiation detection device.

In an ionization
chamber, two opposing electrodes are placed in a container filled with gas, and a high
voltage is applied. As the charged particles (radiation) pass through the gas, the gas
molecules are ionized to produce ions and electrons.

Since a voltage is applied inside the container, electrons with a negative charge are attracted to
the positive electrode, and ions with a positive charge are attracted to the negative electrode. As a
result, an electric current flows in the circuit, and this current allows the detection of radiation. If
the voltage applied to the electrodes is too low, the separated ions and electrons will recombine
before they reach the electrodes. Therefore, a sufficient voltage of several tens to several hundred
V is required in the ionization chamber.

A proportional counter is one in which the voltage in the ionization chamber is increased above a
certain level. When the voltage is increased, the two electrodes act as an accelerator, accelerating
the electrons generated by the charged particles.

The accelerated electrons secondarily ionize the gas molecules, resulting in a current that is
larger than the primary ionization current. Proportional counters make use of this amplification
effect. GM tubes are another type of radiation detection device that uses the ionization of the
electrode and gas.

Matsusada Precision offers a large number of high voltage power supplies that can be used for
ionization chambers featuring low ripple, compact body, and ratings of 0 to 1 kV.

Matsusada Precision offers a large number of high voltage power supplies that can be used for
ionization chambers featuring low ripple, compact body, and ratings of 0 to 1 kV.
 Scintillation Counter
A scintillation Counter is an instrument that is used for measuring ionizing radiation. “It
comprises the scintillator that generates photons in response to incident radiation”, a
PMT tube is used to convert an electronics and electric signal to process the signal.

A scintillation counter is used to detect gamma rays and the presence of a particle. It
can also measure the radiation in the scintillating medium, the energy loss, or the
energy gain. The medium can either be gaseous, liquid, or solid. The scintillator counter
is generally comprised of transparent crystalline material such as glasses, liquids, or
plastics. One sector of the scintillators is placed (optical contact) with the pin code.

A charged particle loses energy when passing through the scintillator thus leaving the
trail of excited molecules and atoms. A rapid interatomic transfer of electronic excitation
energy follows, which leads to the burst of scintillator material luminescence
characteristics. The scintillation response, when a particle stops leading to the light
output. The energy loss of a particle is measured when a particle passes completely
through a scintillator.
 Applications of Scintillation Counter
1. Scintillation Counters are widely used in radioactive contamination, radiation survey
meters, radiometric assay, nuclear plant safety, and medical imaging, which are used to
measure radiation.
2. There are several counters mounted on helicopters and some pickup trucks for rapid
response in case of a security situation due to radioactive waste or dirty bombs.
3. Scintillation counters are designed for weighbridge applications, freight terminals, scrap
metal yards, border security, contamination monitoring of nuclear waste, and ports.
4. It is widely used in screening technologies, In vivo and ELISA alternative technologies,
cancer research, epigenetics, and Cellular research.
5. It also has its applications in protein interaction and detection, academic research, and
pharmaceuticals.
6. A liquid Scintillation Counter is a type of scintillation counter that is used for measuring
the beta emission from the nuclides.

Betatron
A machine that uses electromagnetic fields to drive high-speed, high-energy charged particles in
well-defined beams is known as a particle accelerator. In this article, let us know about one such
particle accelerator known as Betatron.

What is Betatron?
Betatron is a type of particle accelerator and is used to accelerate electrons. It uses the electric
field induced by a varying magnetic field to accelerate electrons to high speed in a circular orbit.
The word betatron derives from the fact that high-energy electrons are often called β-particles.
The betatron was the first important machine for producing high-energy electrons.

It was first developed in 1935 by Max Steenbeck in Germany to accelerate electrons, but the
concepts ultimately originate from Rolf Widerøe, whose development of an induction accelerator
failed due to the lack of transverse focusing. In 1940, the successful betatron was developed at
the University of Illinois by the American physicist Donald W. Kerst. A simple representation of
the betatron is shown in the figure below.
Applications of Betatron
Some applications are stated below:

 Provides high energy beam electrons of about 300 MeV.

 Used as a source of X-rays and gamma rays if the electron beam is made to
direct on a metal plate.
 The X-rays produced with the help of betatron can be used in industrial and
medical fields.
 High energy electrons can be used in particle physics.
 Possible solar flare mechanism.
Limitations of Betatron
This type of particle has maximum energy, and can be limited by the strength of the magnetic
field due to the saturation of iron and by the practical size of the magnet core.

It is actually a transformer, which acts as the secondary coil of the transformer. This accelerates
the electrons in the vacuum tube around a circular path. It works under constant
electric fields and variable magnetic fields.

Geiger counter
Geiger counter is a device which is used to detect and measure particles in ionized gases. It is
widely used in applications like radiological protection, radiation dosimetry, and experimental
physics. It is made up of a metallic tube, filled with gas and a high voltage range of multiples of
100V is applied to this gas. It detects alpha, beta, and gamma particles.

When radioactive isotopes are used in medical research work on humans, it is important to make
sure that the amount of radioactive material administered to human subjects is as little as
possible. In order to achieve this, a very sensitive instrument is necessary to measure the
radioactivity of materials. A ‘particle detector’ to measure the ionizing radiation was developed
by Geiger and Muller in the year 1928 and they called it
‘Geiger Muller Counter’ which in short is known as the ‘GM counter.’

In the large and dominant use as a hand-held radiation survey instrument, it would be one of the
planet’s renowned radiation detection instruments.

Principle of Geiger Counter

The Geiger counter would contain a Geiger-Müller tube, the element of sense that detects the
radiation and the electronics that process and would provide the result.

The Geiger-Müller tube is filled with a gas such as helium, neon, or argon at the pressure being
the lowest, where there is an application of high voltage. There would be the conduction of the
electrical charge on the tube when a particle or photon of incident radiation would turn the gas
conductive by the means of ionization.

Types of Geiger Counter

The Geiger counter is dictated entirely by the design of the tube and can be generally categorised
into two types:

 End Window
 Windowless
End Window

This style of the tube would have a small window at one of its ends. This window would be
helpful in ionizing particles that could travel easily.

Windowless
As the name suggests, this type of tube would not have any windows and the thickness would be
in the range of one to two mm. This type of tube is used for detecting high penetrating radiations.

Geiger Counter Units

The measurement of particles would be in different units, the widely used one of them is the
Counts Per Minute (CPM). The measurement of radioactivity would be in micro-Sieverts per
hour (µSv/hr) and milli-Roentgens per hour (mR/hr).

Cyclotron
Cyclotron, any of a class of
devices that accelerates charged
atomic or subatomic particles in
a constant magnetic field. The
first particle accelerator of this
type was developed in the early
1930s by the American
physicists Ernest Orlando
Lawrence and M. Stanley
Livingston. A cyclotron consists
of two hollow semicircular
electrodes, called dees, mounted
back to back, separated by a narrow gap, in an evacuated chamber between the poles of a
magnet. An electric field, alternating in polarity, is created in the gap by a radio-frequency
oscillator.
The particles to be accelerated are formed near the centre of the device in the gap, where the
electric field propels them into one of the dees. There the magnetic field guides them in a
semicircular path. By the time they return to the gap, the electric field has reversed, so they are
accelerated into the other dee. Although the speed of the particles and the radius of their orbit
increase each time they cross the gap, as long as the mass of the particles and the strength of the
magnetic field remain constant, these crossings occur at a fixed frequency, to which the oscillator
can be adjusted.

A cyclotron operating in this manner can accelerate protons to energies no greater than 25
million electron volts. This limitation is imposed by the relativistic increase in the mass of any
particle as its speed approaches that of light. As the mass increases, the orbital frequency
decreases, and the particles cross the gap at times when the electric field decelerates them.

Solid-state detector

Solid-state detector, radiation detector in which a semiconductor material such as a silicon or

germanium crystal constitutes the detecting medium. One such device consists of a p-
n junction across which a pulse of current develops when a particle of ionizing
radiation traverses it. In a different device, the absorption of ionizing radiation generates pairs
of charge carriers (electrons and electron-deficient sites called holes) in a block of
semiconducting material; the migration of these carriers under the influence of a voltage
maintained between the opposite faces of the block constitutes a pulse of current. The pulses
created in this way are amplified, recorded, and analyzed to determine the energy, number, or
identity of the incident-charged particles. The sensitivity of these detectors is increased by
operating them at low temperatures—commonly that of liquid nitrogen, −164 °C (−263 °F)—
which suppresses the random formation of charge carriers by thermal vibration.