Gas proportional scintillation counter for ionizing radiation with medium and large size radiation windows and/or detection volumes

A gas proportional scintillation counter comprising:

• at least one noble gas-filled enclosure defined by at least a first grid and a second grid, in which scintillation light is produced in an electric field between the first and second grids as a result of interaction between the noble gas and one or more electrons entering the at least one enclosure;
• and
• sensor means for detecting the scintillation light and producing a pulse in response to the detected scintillation light;
• wherein the first grid is at least partly curved so that the scintillation light produced between the curved part of the first grid and the second grid increases in intensity with increases in radial distance from a center of the curved part of the first grid, so as to compensate for a radially-increasing loss of scintillation light reaching the sensor means due to at least one of solid angle and reflection effects.

A gas proportional scintillation counter comprising:

• at least one noble gas-filled enclosure defined by at least a first grid and a second grid, in which scintillation light is produced in an electric field between the first and second grids as a result of interaction between the noble gas and one or more electrons entering the at least one enclosure;
• and
• sensor means for detecting the scintillation light and producing a pulse in response to the detected scintillation light;
• wherein the sensor means has a local average efficiency which increases with increases in radial distance from a center of the sensor means, so as to compensate for a radially-increasing loss of scintillation light reaching the sensor means due to at least one of solid angle and reflection effects.