Ionization current measurements in gases using an internal tritium β source

Abstract

The β-particles from tritium have been used as an energy source for the ionization of gaseous xenon, argon, neon, and oxygen. The ion currents determined from an ionization chamber study of T2-gas mixtures enable the energy required to form an ion pair (W value) to be calculated for these gases. A series of fluorocarbon gases have also been studied and their W values determined for the first time. Consideration of the energy transfer (Jesse) effect limits the usefulness of this technique to gases of ionization potential of less than 15.5 eV.