Development of an ultraviolet proportional counter with potential for faint FUV line emission observations

Kasandra K. J. O'Malia; Matthew N. Beasley; James C. Green

doi:10.1117/12.828482

20 August 2009 Development of an ultraviolet proportional counter with potential for faint FUV line emission observations

Kasandra K. J. O'Malia, Matthew N. Beasley, James C. Green

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 7435, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XVI; 74350N (2009) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.828482
Event: SPIE Optical Engineering + Applications, 2009, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

We present the results of developing a Lyman alpha blind detector for (λ 1000-1100 Å). This detector has potential applications to astrophysical FUV emission observations, particularly the O VI doublet at 1037.62 and 1031.93 Å. By filling the detector with a gas whose ionization potential is above the energy of the bright Lyα airglow line at 10.2eV we hoped to produce an FUV detector that is Lyα blind. Propane (C₃H₈ ) and acetylene (C₂H₂) were tested as potential gas fillers. Both gases were found to have significant sensitivity to the Lyα line, either because of impurities in the gas or from dissociation products formed from Lyα photons, and therefore the detector did not provide the ~10⁷ suppression of Lyα that is necessary to directly detect faint, diffuse FUV emission. When filled with acetylene the detector is 13 times more sensitive to Ar 1067 Å (a proxy for the O VI 1038 and 1032 Å doublet lines) than to Lyα and when filled with propane the detector is 3 times more sensitive to the argon line. The detector has a quantum efficiency of about 7% at 1067 Å with either gas and may hold promise for a completely Lyα blind FUV detector if a suitable gas is found.

Citation Download Citation

Kasandra K. J. O'Malia, Matthew N. Beasley, and James C. Green "Development of an ultraviolet proportional counter with potential for faint FUV line emission observations", Proc. SPIE 7435, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XVI, 74350N (20 August 2009); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.828482

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