Image amplifying device having a pulse generator applied to parallel electrodes separated by an ionizable gas

Claim 1

A RADIATION AMPLIFIER DEVICE FOR RADIOSCOPY, RADIOGRAPHY AND NEUTRON-RADIOGRAPHY DETECTION, COMPRISING A GAS-TIGHT CHAMBER, HAVING TWO PARALLEL PLANE ELECTRODES SPACED APART FROM ONE ANOTHER, ONE OF SAID ELECTRODES HAVING A LAYER OF A HIGH ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT WITH RESPECT TO SAID RADIATIONS WHICH EMITS CHARGED RADIATION UPON ABSORPTION OF SAID FIRST RADIATIONS TO PRODUCE ELECTRONS IN THE GAS WITHIN SAID CHAMBER, AND THE OTHER ELECTRODE BEING TRANSPARENT TO LIGHT RAYS, IN SAID CHAMBER, A GASEOUS MIXTURE CONSISTING OF A VERY SMALL AMOUNT OF A HALOGEN AND OF AT LEAST ONE RARE GAS OF THE GROUP CONSISTING OF NEON, KRYPTON, ARGON, XENON AND HELIUM, A D.C. SOURCE OF VOLTAGE BELOW THE BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE OF SAID GASEOUS MIXTURE HAVING A POSITIVE AND A NEGATIVE TERMINAL, A LIMITER CAPACITOR CONNECTED IN PARALLEL ACROSS SAID SOURCE, A SHORT-PULSE GENERATOR CONNECTED IN PARALLEL WITH SAID D.C. SOURCE, AN ELECTRICAL CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID TRANSPARENT ELECTRODE AND THE POSITIVE TERMINAL OF THE SOURCE IN SERIES WITH SAID GENERATOR, THE NEGATIVE TERMINAL BEING CONNECTED TO THE ELECTRODE HAVING A LAYER OF HIGH ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT, SAID VOLTAGE SUPPLIED, RESPECTIVELY, BY SAID GENERATOR AND SAID SOURCE BEING SUCH THAT THEIR SUM, AT THE INSTANT OF THE PASSAGE OF A PULSE, IS HIGHER THAN THE BREAKDOWN VOLTAGE OF THE GAS ENCLOSED IN SAID TIGHT CHAMBER.