Current Ionization Chambers

Reaction Cell Characteristics—Gas Phase. The right angle reaction cell with an applied electric field is effectively an ionization chamber. Current-voltage curves for different electrode configurations are shown in Figure 4 for 2 torr isobutylene at room temperature. Good saturation currents are achieved with internal electrodes. When the bottom electrode was external to the reaction cell, no saturation current plateau was found. 

Figure 5.11 The ionization chamber current as a function of applied voltage.

Most smoke alarms (Figure 19.1, p. 517) use a radioactive species, typically americium-241. A tiny amount of this isotope is placed in a small ionization chamber decay of Am-241 ionizes air molecules within the chamber. Under the influence of a potential applied by a battery, these ions move across the chamber, producing an electric current. If smoke particles get into... 

A later General Electric x-ray photometer26 is noteworthy because it uses current ionization chambers (2.6) as detectors. Improved means of external amplification made it possible to use this type of detector in a satisfactory photometer with the simple circuit shown in Figure 3-9. 

Figure 3. Variation of the relative primary, secondary, and tertiary ion currents with ionization chamber concentration as predicted by the kinematic theory for the three models of complex formation, hydrogen ion, and hydrogen atom stripping. For conditions, see text...

Dosimetry. Ion current measurements required for absolute dosimetry were performed with a Cary 31 ionization chamber and vibrating reed electrometer. Dry nitrogen was used as filling gas for the chamber, and a W value of 34.9 e.v./ion pair was assumed for H-3 beta rays in N2 (27). Deuterium pressures in each of the reaction mixtures were great enough to ensure that less than 1% of the H-3 beta rays reached the walls of the reaction vessel (7). 

The discharge compartment is mechanically separated from the ionization chamber by an optically transparent window made of setal fluoride. The effluent from the column passes through the themostated ionization chamber and between two electrodes, positioned at opposite ends of the chamber. Detectors with ionization chamber volumes of 40 and 175 microliters are available for use with capillary columns and of 175 and 225 microliters for packed columns. An electric field is applied between the electrodes to collect the ions formed (or electrons, if preferred) and the current amplified by a precision electrometer. It has been shown that careful thermostating of the detector is required to reduce baseline drift [107,109]. 

Ionization Chamber Method DSC directly sampled to an evacuated chamber, current measurement... 

Flow-Type Ionization Chamber PFC flow rate 1-2 /min, continuously measured, current measurement and a-pulse counting... 

Tachino, T., Y. Ikebe and M. Shimo, Wall Effect of Ionization Chambers in Measurement of Ionization Current due to Several Gaseous... 

If 1 volt is applied to the plates of the ionization chamber shown in Figure 14, some of the free electrons will be attracted to the positive plate of the detector. This attraction is not strong because 1 volt does not create a strong electric field between the two plates. The free electrons will tend to drift toward the positive plate, causing a current to flow, which is indicated on the ammeter. Not all of the free electrons will make it to the positive plate because the positively charged atoms that resulted when an electron was ejected may recapture other free electrons. Therefore, the ammeter will register only a fraction of the number of free electrons between the plates. 

When using an ionization chamber for detecting neutrons, beta particles can be prevented from entering the chamber by walls thick enough to shield out all of the beta particles. Gamma rays cannot be shielded from the detector therefore, they always contribute to the total current read by the ammeter. This effect is not desired because the detector responds not only to neutrons, but also to gamma rays. Several ways are available to minimize this problem. 

Radiation detection circuit currents or pulse rates vary over a wide range of values. The current output of an ionization chamber may vary by 8 orders of magnitude. For example, the range may be from 10"13 amps to 10"5 amps. The most accurate method to display this range would be to utilize a linear current meter with several scales, and the capability to switch those scales. This is not practical. A single scale which covers the entire range of values is used. This scale is referred to as logarithmic. 

A stream-splitter may be used at the end of the column to allow the simultaneous detection of eluted components by destructive GC detectors such as an FID. An alternative approach is to monitor the total ion current (TIC) in the mass spectrometer which will vary in the same manner as the response of an FID. The total ion current is the sum of the currents generated by all the fragment ions of a particular compound and is proportional to the instantaneous concentration of that compound in the ionizing chamber of the mass spectrometer. By monitoring the ion current for a selected mass fragment (m/z) value characteristic of a particular compound or group of compounds, detection can be made very selective and often specific. Selected ion monitoring (SIM) is more sensitive than TIC and is therefore particularly useful in trace analysis. 

The El source has been the most widely used ion source over the past 60 years and continues to be the method of choice for the analysis (either qualitative or quantitative) of small- to medium-sized volatile organic compounds. The inherent reproducibility of the mass spectra has enabled the assembly of large spectral libraries. Computers associated with current generation instruments can efficiently (in a few seconds) search an unknown mass spectrum against tens of thousands of reference spectra in order to aid in the identification of an analyte. The general scheme of an El source includes the introduction of the vaporized analyte molecules into the ionization chamber, exposure of those molecules... 

In order to measure the absorption of the beam of rays coming from the mercury vapor an ionization chamber with a thin mica window in it and containing methyliodide was set up opposite the window, F, and lead plates with holes in them were placed in the line of the beam so that only the radiation coming from the impacts of the electrons against the mercury entered the chamber with sufficient intensity to be detected. That this was the case in the actual experiments is indicated by the fact that no perceptible ionization current could be observed when the mercury pump was not running. A quadrant electrometer measured the ionization current. 

To increase the ionization probability, a homogeneous weak magnetic field is used to keep the electrons on a spiral path. At the end of the ionization chamber, electrons are collected in a positively charged trap, where the electron current is measured and kept constant by the emission regulator circuitry. 

Neon is also used in scintillation counters, neutron fission counters, proportional counters, and ionization chambers for detection of charged particles. Its mixtures with bromine vapors or chlorine are used in Geiger tubes for counting nuclear particles. Helium-neon mixture is used in gas lasers. Some other applications of neon are in antifog devices, electrical current detectors, and lightning arrestors. The gas is also used in welding and preparative reactions. In preparative reactions it provides an inert atmosphere to shield the reaction from air contact. 

Fig. 4 shows the illustration of a double ionization chamber. We describe the process of measuring the photoabsorption cross sections as follows, /q denotes the incident photon flux coming into the chamber filled with atoms or molecules of the number density n, I and I denote the photon fluxes entering and leaving plate 1, respectively, and I2 and I2 denote the photon fluxes entering and leaving plate 2, respectively. The ion currents q and q collected by plates 1 and 2, respectively, are expressed as... 

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