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Multi-wire Proportional Chamber – MWPC

proportional counter, also known as the proportional detector, is an electrical device that detects various types of ionizing radiation. The voltage of the detector is adjusted so that the conditions correspond to the proportional region. In this region, the voltage is high enough to provide the primary electrons with sufficient acceleration and energy to ionize additional atoms of the medium. These secondary ions (gas amplification) formed are also accelerated, causing an effect known as Townsend avalanches, which creates a single large electrical pulse. Gaseous proportional counters usually operate in high electric fields of 10 kV/cm and achieve typical amplification factors of about 105. Since the amplification factor strongly depends on the applied voltage, the charge collected (output signal) also depends on the applied voltage, and proportional counters require constant voltage.

Gaseous Ionization Detectors - Regions

Multi-wire Proportional Chamber – MWPC

A multi-wire proportional chamber is a type of proportional counter used especially in high-energy particle physics to detect charged particles and photons and give positional information on their trajectory. This device was developed by Georges Charpak and his collaborators, and this invention resulted in him winning the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1992. The multi-wire chamber uses an array of wires at high voltage (anode), which run through a chamber with conductive walls held at ground potential (cathode). The principle is to have a plane of anode wires positioned precisely, with typical wire-spacings of about 2 mm. Computing pulses can find the particle trajectory from all the wires.

References:

Radiation Protection:

  1. Knoll, Glenn F., Radiation Detection and Measurement 4th Edition, Wiley, 8/2010. ISBN-13: 978-0470131480.
  2. Stabin, Michael G., Radiation Protection and Dosimetry: An Introduction to Health Physics, Springer, 10/2010. ISBN-13: 978-1441923912.
  3. Martin, James E., Physics for Radiation Protection 3rd Edition, Wiley-VCH, 4/2013. ISBN-13: 978-3527411764.
  4. U.S.NRC, NUCLEAR REACTOR CONCEPTS
  5. U.S. Department of Energy, Instrumentation and Control. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 2 of 2. June 1992.

Nuclear and Reactor Physics:

  1. J. R. Lamarsh, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Theory, 2nd ed., Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA (1983).
  2. J. R. Lamarsh, A. J. Baratta, Introduction to Nuclear Engineering, 3d ed., Prentice-Hall, 2001, ISBN: 0-201-82498-1.
  3. W. M. Stacey, Nuclear Reactor Physics, John Wiley & Sons, 2001, ISBN: 0- 471-39127-1.
  4. Glasstone, Sesonske. Nuclear Reactor Engineering: Reactor Systems Engineering, Springer; 4th edition, 1994, ISBN: 978-0412985317
  5. W.S.C. Williams. Nuclear and Particle Physics. Clarendon Press; 1 edition, 1991, ISBN: 978-0198520467
  6. G.R.Keepin. Physics of Nuclear Kinetics. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co; 1st edition, 1965
  7. Robert Reed Burn, Introduction to Nuclear Reactor Operation, 1988.
  8. U.S. Department of Energy, Nuclear Physics and Reactor Theory. DOE Fundamentals Handbook, Volume 1 and 2. January 1993.
  9. Paul Reuss, Neutron Physics. EDP Sciences, 2008. ISBN: 978-2759800414.

See above:

Proportional Counter