Measurement of tritium partial pressure by BIXS (I). Total pressure dependence of hydrogen isotopes

The correlation between the intensity of X-rays induced by β-rays of tritium and the total pressure of hydrogen isotope mixtures was examined in a pressure range from 10-1 to 105 Pa by using three different tritium gases, i.e., pure T2, D2-1%T2 and H2-1%T2 mixtures. It was found that linear pressure dependence was obtained up to a few kPa for all of the measured gases by taking dead time of the X-ray detector into account. Above this pressure, however, downward deviation from the linear relation appeared. It was revealed that the effect of self-absorption of β-rays on the pressure dependence was not negligibly small, because the ratios of the counting rates corrected by dead time to total pressure, i.e., specific counting rates, could not be reproduced by a simple exponential function using the absorption coefficients of hydrogen isotopes as variables. The results suggested that an additional factor such as contribution of an X-ray formation on the surfaces of a measuring cell must be taken into consideration in changing in the specific counting rates. (author)