Gas detectors
Nuclear detectors - Different classes of detectors

Gas detectors can be classified into three main families according to the value of their internal gain G :

• the ionization chamber (IC; G = 1);

• the proportional counter (CP; G " 10² to 10⁵) ;

• Geiger-Müller counter (GM; G " 10⁶ to 10⁸).

Figure 1 shows the evolution of signal amplitude as a function of applied voltage, illustrating the different operating zones of the three types of detector.

Table 1 gives details of the different particle detection techniques for this type...