Operation of gas proportional scintillation counters in a low charge multiplication regime

The operation of a xenon filled gas proportional scintillation counter under low charge multiplication gains is discussed. It is shown that the best energy resolution for X-rays is obtained for a reduced electric field, E/p, of about 8 V cm−1 Torr−1, leading to a charge gain (for inter-grid distance of 5 mm) of about 1.05, as calculated by a Monte Carlo simulation method. A discussion is presented concerning the dependence of the E/p values for better detector performance, on the inter-grid distance.