Nuclear particle and radiation detectors. Part 2: Counters and counting systems

This is a continuation of a companion paper entitled ¿Nuclear Particle and Radiation Detectors: Part 1¿Ion Chambers and Ion-chamber Instruments¿, and it discusses counters and counting systems. Again the emphasis is on the detectors (i.e. the counters in this case), but some details are given of the auxiliary equipment required for a counting system, namely amplifiers, counting-rate meters, sealers and registers, and examples of a number of complete instruments are also given. Proportional, Geiger-Mÿller and scintillation counters are considered in detail, whilst crystal counters, secondary-emission particle detectors and thermal detectors receive only brief mention. As was the case in Part 1, the aim has been to provide sound theoretical and practical descriptions of those instruments which¿in the opinion of the authors¿are likely to find wide application in nuclear engineering. Illustrations of instruments and components are given, and applications are drawn wherever possible from present practice at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment.