14 C Gas Counting: Is There Still a Future?

Abstract

Reviewed here are developments in low background proportional counters and chambers used for low-level internal gas counting of 14 C. I have studied the influence of counter geometry and the nature of the gas filling on counter characteristics and describe in detail operational characteristics of multi-element proportional chambers. I also discuss detector developments for ultra-low-level gas counting based on a time projection chamber. My observations show that proportional and drift chambers, together with multichannel electronics operating on-line with a computer, open new possibilities in ultra-low-level gas counting.