A new method for the ionometric instrumentation response time measurement

A new method of measurement for the response time of the ionometric instrumentation has been proposed. The method is based on the time sampling of the output transient signal and the data processing by using a personal computer and a data acquisition DAS-800 board. As compared to the usual method, using a chronometer, the human operator error has been completely eliminated and the statistical uncertainty has been mostly reduced. The measuring range is limited on its lower side to about 100 ms, by the rapidity of applying the radiation field, the upper limit being equal to about 100 s. The measuring range could be increased by using an external sampling generator. An analysis of the main error sources associated to the measurement, the last digit error and the uncertainty due to the statistical fluctuations, has been performed. The statistical uncertainty, for the measurement of the response time, has been experimentally obtained, leading to a value of about 4% for the coefficient of variation. (authors)