Origins of the residual pulse height deficit in propane-filled gas ionization detectors

This work investigates the origins of the residual pulse height deficit in gas ionization detectors. It is motivated by the recent observation that the species dependence of gas detector response cannot be accounted for solely by considering the energy loss of the ions in the detector window and non-ionizing energy loss processes in the detector gas. It was found that the residual pulse height deficit is approximately proportional to the square of the ionization density. However, only a weak dependence of the residual deficit on gas pressure (in the range 70-120mbar) was observed. It is hypothesized that the residual pulse height deficit in gas ionization detectors results from the effect of multiple ionization of individual gas molecules at high ionization densities on the energy required to create an electron-ion pair.