An analytical comparison of gas gain in spherical, cylindrical and hemispherical low-pressure proportional counters intended for use in experimental microdosimetry

Traditionally experimental microdosimetry has employed low pressure single cavity spherical Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counters (TEPCs). Multi-Element Tissue Equivalent Proportional Counters (METEPCs) with numerous cylindrical cavities have been constructed in order to increase sensitivity per unit volume; however existing METEPC designs are prohibitively complex and sensitive to motion and audible noise. This work proposes a novel hemispherical element with a wire-less anode ball as a solution to these issues. The gas gain characteristics of this hemispherical METEPC element were analyzed first for a single hemispherical TEPC to evaluate performance relative to current cylindrical and spherical counter designs that have been demonstrated experimentally to perform very well. This gain analysis evaluated relative avalanche size and the uniformity in maximum gain for electrons originating throughout the gas cavities of each of the three counters. Radial gas gain distributions for each counter were determined using both theoretical potential distributions as well as analytical equipotential distributions generated with ANSYS Maxwell (V. 14.0) to solve the Townsend equation. It was found that the hemispherical counter exhibits completely uniform gas gain for electrons approaching the anode from all directions and its avalanche region occupies only 3.5×10−3% of the entire gas cavity volume, whereas in the cylindrical and spherical counters the avalanche occupies 0.6% and 0.12% of the total respective gas cavity volumes. These analytical gas gain results are promising, suggesting that the hemisphere should exhibit uniform signal amplification throughout the gas cavity and if the recommended follow-up experimental work demonstrates the hemispherical counter works as anticipated it will be ready to be incorporated into an METEPC design.