Characterization of hemispherical area X-ray detector based on set of proportional counters with needle anodes

•A hemispherical area X-ray detector is introduced.•The detector employs gas proportional counters with needle anodes.•The detector is robust, low cost and enables high rate counting (up to 106 counts/s).

This work introduces a new, versatile and robust X-ray detector with hemispherical 2π geometry, based on a set of 15 small cylindrical proportional counters located in a hexagonal and pentagonal fullerene C60 pattern, at the same distance from the center (where a sample is placed). The counteranode consists of stainless steel sewing needles with spherical tips measuring approximately 80 μm in diameter. The space between the counters and the sample could contain air, the same gas as the counters or vacuum. This allows a significant increase in the count rates by a factor approximately equal to the number of counters connected. It is shown that an energy resolution of 20% for 5.9 keV photons can be obtained, and a global counting rate of around 106 counts/s is achievable by the 15 Needle Anode Proportional Counters (NAPCs) operating in parallel mode, in our setup.