RC-ENCODING FOR POSITION-SENSITIVE PROPORTIONAL-COUNTERS USING LOW-RESISTANCE, METAL WIRE ANODE AND ACTIVE LOAD CAPACITANCE

We developed a feedback-stabilized, active load-capacitance to use low-resistance, metal-wire anodes in RC-line encoded, position-sensitive proportional counters (PSPCs) of any length. A 12-cm-long experimental PSPC was tested using a 12-μm-diam Nichrome wire anode and an ∼21 pF active load capacitance. The spatial sensitivity and resolution are equivalent to those of similar PSPC with a carbon-coated quartz anode; but the ruggedness, ease of handling, and stability at high count rates are distinct advantages of the metal-wire anode.