Imaging characteristics of glass capillary plate gas detector

Abstract A glass capillary plate (CP) gas detector with gas mixtures of He, Ne, Ar, and Xe has been successfully operated as a visible and near-infrared (NIR) scintillation proportional counter. Gas gains of up to 10 4 can be achieved using these gas mixtures. The scintillation light emitted during the generation of electron avalanches can be observed using a photomultiplier tube (PMT) and a compact optical imaging system that consists of a CP gas detector and a cooled CCD camera coupled to lens optics. Using this optical imaging system, clearer X-ray images have been obtained with the above gas mixtures. The dependence of the imaging quality on the pressure in the range 0.25–1 atm was also investigated for the Ar (90%)+CF 4 (10%) gas mixture. The successful operations using these gas mixtures have allowed us to realize a novel imaging device with a CP gas detector for gaseous PMTs sensitive to visible light.