Experimental investigation of ion recombination in a locally made low-voltage ionization chamber

Abstract

In this study, the weak alpha radiation sources and the beta radiation by the effect of them on the electrical conductivity of air inside the ionization chamber are studied by measuring the produced current. The aim of this study is to make an ionization chamber to measure the ionization caused by weak radioactive sources which produce the electrical current at the order of femto- to pico-amperes and try to estimate the ion recombination coefficient at low ion densities. A parallel-plate ionization chamber with proper shielding and noise reduction circuits are made which measure data and sent them to a personal computer by USB port. The current-voltage characteristics of the ion chamber are measured when different radioactive sources are placed inside the chamber at the different separation of electrodes. The recombination constant obtained is estimated equal to 1.18 × 10−6 cm3/s. It is shown that current-voltage characteristic for ion chamber with different electrode separation lies on a unique curve by a proper normalization in the pico- and femto-ampere current range.

Keywords

• air electrical conduction
• free-air ion chamber
• ion current
• ion recombination
• natural ionization
• nuclear radiation measurement