What Does an Ion Chamber Do? A Comprehensive Guide

An ionization chamber is a gas-filled radiation detector used to detect and measure ionizing radiation, such as x-rays, gamma rays, and beta particles. It is the simplest type of gas-filled detector and is widely used for its detection and measurement capabilities. The basic chamber consists of a conductive can, usually metallic, with a wire electrode in the center, well insulated from the walls of the chamber. The chamber is typically filled with ordinary dry air, but other gases such as carbon dioxide or pressurized air can give greater sensitivity. A DC voltage is applied between the outer can and the center electrode to create an electric field that sweeps ions toward the oppositely charged electrodes.

The outer can has most of the potential relative to ground, so the circuitry is close to the ground potential. The center wire is kept close to zero volts and the resulting current in the center wire is measured. An ionization chamber consists of a gas-filled cavity surrounded by two electrodes of opposite polarity and an electrometer. The electric field established between the electrodes accelerates the ions produced by the radiation to be collected by the electrodes. This charge is read by the electrometer and can be converted into absorbed dose.

Absorption within an ionization chamber can be controlled by selection of make-up gas composition and pressure. A proportional counter is a modified ionization chamber, one in which a higher voltage is printed, which makes the electric field near the axial cable strong enough to accelerate approaching electrons to such high energies that their collisions with gas molecules cause further ionization. Ionization chambers with transparent X-ray plates made of aluminized plastic or thin metal mesh are used for the detection of fluorescent radiation. Radiation indicators are considered, whereas ionization chambers are used for more quantitative measurements. Alternatively, the voltage increase can simply be detected with a comparator and then restored as is done in the ionization chamber of the Prospector. This makes open-air ionization chambers the preferred reference dosimeter for Accredited Dosimetry Calibration Laboratories (ADCL), but their large size makes them unsuitable for clinical applications.

Multi-channel xenon ionization chambers pressurized to 20 bar were developed in the 1970s and 1980s (Drost and Fenster, 1982, 198) and were successfully used in several clinical computed tomography (CT) scanners, such as the Philips 768-channel LX CT, the General Electric Model CT 90000 Series II, and the Siemens Model Somatom CR. A protective electrode is typically provided in the chamber to further reduce chamber leakage and ensure improved field uniformity in the active or sensitive volume of the chamber, with advantages in charge collection. When the gas between the electrodes is ionized by incident ionizing radiation, positive ions and electrons are created under the influence of an electric field. A simple ionization chamber consists of a metal cylinder with a thin axial wire enclosed in a glass envelope in which some inert gas is filled with some inert gas. This unique use of a CT chamber requires that its active volume response be uniform along its entire axial length, a restriction that is not required in other full immersion cylindrical chambers. A CT camera is often referred to as a pencil chamber because its active volume comprises a thin cylinder 100 mm in length (sometimes longer).

Open-air ionization chambers are defining instruments of Roentgen units and are fundamentally linked to absorbed dose. The transmission ionization chamber generally consists of layers of PMMA coated with conductive material.

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