Specific primary ionization induced by minimum ionizing electrons in CH4, C2H6, C3H8, i-C4H10, argon, dimethylether, triethylamine, and tetrakis(dimethylamino)ethylene

Abstract
Specific primary ionization induced by minimum ionizing electrons has been measured in several gases and vapors. Charges deposited by β‐electrons in a low‐pressure gas were collected, amplified by a multistep gaseous electron multiplier, and counted. The high counting efficiency of the multiplier provided results of systematically higher values as compared to existing data. The respective values of the specific primary ionization in CH4, C2H6, C3H8, i‐C4H10, argon, dimethylether, triethylamine, and tetrakis(dimethylamino)ethylene are: 0.034, 0.065, 0.095, 0.12, 0.03, 0.082, 0.195, and 0.370 clusters/cm Torr. The experimental method is presented and the results and their accuracy are discussed.