Ionisation chamber

Air-filled ion chambers are used in portable survey meters, for performing QA testing of diagnostic and therapeutic x-ray machines, and are the detectors in most x-ray machine phototimers

GM COUNTERS

appl
Often used for inexpensive survey meters In general, GM survey meters are inefficient detectors of x-rays and gamma rays GM detectors suffer from extremely long dead times seldom used when accurate measurements are required of count rates greater than a few hundred counts per second Portable GM survey meter may become paralyzed in a very high radiation field should always use ionization chamber instruments for measuring such fields

Proportional counters
Operates at voltages beyond ionisation chamber region ,but below that of geiger region. o/p pulse from the chamber starts to increase with the increase in field strength at the central electrode. The pulse is amplified by 1000 or more. o/p pulse is of few mv. Design of the counter and applied voltages are so chosen that a high voltage exists close to the anode. Preamp is a voltage follower- high i/p imp

 Followed by low noise linear amp having gain in the range of 500-1000. non overloading type Preamp shd be placed near the detector. Pulse height analyser-counts a pulse only if its amp falls within specific limits. Scaling unit counts down the pulses so that they are digitally displayed. App: Commonly used in standards laboratories, health physics laboratories, and for physics research Seldom used in medical centers

Scintillation counter
Scintillator is a crystalline sub which produces minute flashes of light in the vis or uv range when it absorbs ionising rad. Light flashes are of very short duration and detected by PMT, which produces a pulse for each particle. Scint + pmt=scintillation counter NaI with 0.5% of thallium iodide- r ray detector. Anthracene beta Scintillators are used in conventional film-screen radiography, many digital radiographic receptors, fluoroscopy, scintillation cameras, most CT scanners, and PET scanners

 PMTs perform two functions: Conversion of ultraviolet and visible light photons into an electrical signal Signal amplification, on the order of millions to billions

Consists of an evacuated glass tube containing a photocathode, typically 10 to 12 electrodes called dynodes, and an anode

Semiconductor detectors
Silicon & Germanium crystals alpha and beta Func in a similar manner to that of the gas ionisation chamber.