ionization chamber

American  

noun

Physics.

1. an apparatus for detecting and analyzing ionizing radiation, consisting of a vessel filled with a gas at normal or lower than normal pressure and fitted with two electrodes such that the current between the electrodes is a function of the amount of ionization of the gas.

---

ionization chamber British  

noun

1. a device for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation, consisting of a tube containing a low pressure gas and two electrodes between which a high voltage is maintained. The current between the electrodes is a function of the intensity of the radiation

---

Etymology

Origin of ionization chamber

First recorded in 1900–05

Example Sentences

But Bailey says Accion's ion thrusters are the first to use a liquid propellant — a more-efficient design than a conventional thruster that requires no valves, pipes, pumps or separate ionization chamber.

From Nature • May 16, 2017

When their highspeed neutrons hit the wall of an ionization chamber, protons bounced back.

From Time Magazine Archive

A tube in the ionization chamber conked out, causing a power failure that eventually ruined the whole experiment.

From Time Magazine Archive

The ionization chamber, on the other hand, has a response that is proportional to the ionization that the particles produce in passing through the chamber.

From Time Magazine Archive

During one collaboration, he and Philip Abelson were bedeviled by the erratic performance of an ionization chamber until Abelson noticed that its behavior corresponded to Kamen’s wanderings around the room.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik