A Method of Measuring Spurious Counts in Geiger-Müller Counters

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Abstract
A counter was excited by a series of x-ray pulses of short duration occurring at regular intervals. Spurious counts were then easily recognized since they occur between the x-ray pulses. The counter pulses were displayed on an oscilloscope screen with a synchronized sweep and the counter deadtime, recovery time, and number of spurious counts determined by inspection. More quantitative information of the time distribution was obtained with an electronic circuit that recorded counts in a small arbitrarily chosen interval. It was found that the interval distribution shows at least two maxima. A mechanism is suggested for the appearance of the second maximum in terms of negative ions formed at the cathode by positive-ion bombardment.

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