Spark chamber detection

These have been used for detecting gamma rays with high positional resolution in 2D-ACAR experiments (see 7.2) [20], although—principally for reasons of availability, lower complexity and more straightforward maintenance—scintillation detectors are more common. Very briefly, a spark chamber is modified to detect gamma radiation with positional... 

Miyamoto invent the spark chamber to detect ionizing particles selectively. 

To detect substances by physical methods which are nearly nondestructive means to employ their absorption or their emission of electromagnetic radiation. Suitable detectors may be the eye (visual detection) or photomultipliers, which are sensitive sensors for qualitative analysis and quantification (photometric measurement). The detection of radioactively labeled substances by autoradiography, fluorography, spark chamber, or scanning techniques is discussed in a special chapter of this Handbook (see Chapter 12, Thin-Layer Radiochromatography). 

The first radiation detectors were called radioscanners, and these were developed and introduced in the early 1960s (57). This was a major step forward in the automatic detection and subsequent quantitation of radioactive components on TLC plates. The sensitivity and resolution of the instruments were not very high, but peaks could be detected and their relative amounts subsequently quantitated. At around the same time spark chambers were also developed for use with TLC plates. However, these detectors could locate individual components on TLC plates but quantitation was not possible. 

Recently, electronic instrumentation has been developed to detect surface ignition. One method is based on the rate of pressure rise as measured by a time-rate-of-change-of-pressure pickup in the combustion chamber (58), and another involves the detection of flame fronts other than those originating at the normal firing spark plug. The latter method is based on the use of an ionization gap located at some distance from the spark plug to detect the presence of a flame. 

Electronic circuits have been devised which can be used to establish whether or not a particular flame front is initiated by the normal firing of the spark plug or by hot surfaces in the combustion chamber (34, 38, 39, 50). Another scheme employs the spark plug as the ionization gap to detect flame fronts not initiated by the normal firing of the plug (93). 

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