Fission wire plane chambers (WPC)

Wire Plane Chamber (WPC) with multiple grid planes was found to be useful for detection of alpha particles with argon fill gas. Using this concept, studies have been carried out using wire plane chamber for neutron detection using 235U as the neutron converter material. The experimental studies have been done using 252Cf source mounted on the cathode plate inside the WPC. WPC is found to be operated at low working voltages and with better pulse shape features: faster and narrower pulse shapes better suited for high count rate applications. Present grid configuration is found to be superior to conventional ionization chamber of similar dimensions in performance. This is achieved as the average distance traveled by the charge particle cloud from the ionization track to reach the nearest electrode has been reduced as compared to two electrode ionization chamber of similar size. The capacitance of the WPC is considerably reduced with presently used multi anode wire plane electrodes so that large area fission chambers in parallel plate or cylindrical geometry can be realized. The results obtained with this novel fission WPC are described for the first time. (author)