200°C Boron-10 Lined Proportional Counters

Boron-Lined Multichamber and Conventional Neutron Proportional Counter Tests

B-Lined Proportional Counters to Traditional Neutron Counting Applications in International Safeguards

Many neutron-detection techniques are under consideration as potential replacements for 3 He gas-filled proportional tubes, which are widely used in international nuclear safeguards applications. The traditional 10 B-lined proportional tube is a commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology for neutron detection that predates the development of 3 He detectors. There is also a long history of its u...

Proportional Counters as Low Energy Photon Detectors

We have investigated the response of an argon-methane proportional counter to monochromatic X-rays in the range 99-277 eV . The apparent nonlinearities in mean pulse height as a function of photon energy and the detailed shape of the pulse height distribution for each energy can be predicted quite precisely using the extensive atomic data available for argon. Based on this understanding, we pro...

Full simulation of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory proportional counters

The third phase of the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNO) experiment added an array of 3He proportional counters to the detector. The purpose of this neutral-current detection (NCD) array was to observe neutrons resulting from neutral-current solar-neutrino–deuteron interactions. We have developed a detailed simulation of current pulses from NCD array proportional counters, from the primary neu...

Gas Scintillation Proportional Counters for High-Energy X-ray Astronomy

A focal plane array of high-pressure gas scintillation proportional counters (GSPC) for a balloon-borne hard-x-ray telescope is under development at the Marshall Space Flight Center. These detectors each have an active area of ~ 20 cm, and are filled with a high pressure (10 Pa) xenon-helium mixture. Imaging is via crossed-grid position-sensitive phototubes sensitive in the UV region. The perfo...