Photoelectron Range Limitations to the Spatial Resolution for X-Rays in Gas Proportional Chambers

Abstract

Measurements have been made, for x-ray energies from a few keV to 18 keV, of the limiting spatial resolution caused by the finite range of the photoelectron, or electrons, created when an x-ray is absorbed in the gas of a proportional chamber. In hydrocarbon gases such as methane and ethane, where the photoelectron receives the bulk of the x-ray energy, the limiting spatial resolution is found to vary as a power law of x-ray energy. In argon and xenon, at an x-ray energy approximately twice that of the AK edge and the XeL edge respectively, the measured limiting resolution is better than expected from an equivalent power law behavior.