The ability of a gas scintillation proportional counter to reject background events in a space environment

Results are presented on the ability of a xenon filled gas scintillation proportional counter (GSPC) to reject the charged particle background radiation found in a space environment. The optimisation of the detector to reject such radiation is discussed in detail. A rejection efficiency for 60Co induced events, used to simulate the space environment, of approximately 97% was achieved, over the energy range 1-20 keV, for an X-ray acceptance of 82% at 6 keV. Such results compare favourably with conventional proportional counters which use xenon as the primary filling gas. (Auth.)