A gaseous detector for high-accuracy autoradiography of radioactive compounds with optical readout of avalanche positions

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Abstract

We describe a detector based on the imaging of avalanches in gases initiated by ionization electrons produced by β-particles entering an amplifying gap limited by two parallel electrodes. The avalanches are made visible by the addition of an efficient light-emitting vapour to noble gases such as argon or xenon. Imaging of the avalanches with an image intensifier and a CCD coupled to a computer permits accuracies of the order of 50 μm for the β-rays emitted by tritium. Application of the method to biological tissue slices labelled with tritium shows a gain in time, with respect to the photographic method, by a factor close to 100. Images of gels labelled with 32P or 35S show accuracies better than 0.5 mm (FWHM). The linearity and large dynamic range in intensity measurements are far superior to those of the standard autoradiography method.

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On leave of absence from Warsaw University, Poland.

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