The saturation curve at high ionization intensity

Abstract

In this paper the form of the saturation curve is investigated theoretically and experimentally. It is shown that saturation curves taken under different conditions on a parallel plate ionization chamber are transformed into a single general curve when plotted in terms of a dimensionless product of the several variables. The experimental work utilized an ionization chamber with thin foil electrodes. A coin-shaped region between the foils was ionized by a beam of fast electrons. Dose rates up to 100 000 e.s.u./cm3 × sec could be attained. It is shown that very high ionization intensities can be measured in a parallel plate chamber, provided the spacing of the plates is small.