Theoretical study of Jesse effect in tritium measurements using ionization chambers

Abstract Jesse effect caused by impurities in helium might enhance the output signal significantly in tritium measurements with ionization chamber, which will lead to overestimation of tritium concentration in experiments. A theoretical method was proposed to evaluate Jesse effect quantitatively. Results indicate that besides Penning ionization, sub-excitation electrons also place very important influence on ionization enhancement by Jesse effect. An experiential expression about the relationship between enhancement factor and impurity concentration was established, in which second order of it fits experimental results very well. Theoretical calculation method in this paper is also applicable to evaluate Jesse effect in other kinds of mixtures besides hydrogen as impurities in helium. In addition, Jesse effects about tritium molecules as impurities have also been investigated.