February 21, 2016
Journal Article

Simulations of Electron Avalanches in an Ultra-Low-Background Proportional Counter

Abstract

New classes have been added to the simulation package Garfield++ to import the potential and electric field solutions generated by ANSYS R MaxwellTM v.16. Using these tools we report results on the simulation of electron avalanches and induced signal waveforms in comparison to experimental data of the ultra-lowbackground gas proportional counters being developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Furthermore, an improved mesh search algorithm based on Delaunay triangulation was implemented and provided at least a three order of magnitude time savings when compared to the built-in point-location search class of Garfield++.

Revised: February 11, 2016 | Published: February 21, 2016

Citation

Robinson J.W., C.E. Aalseth, M.P. Dion, C.T. Overman, A. Seifert, and B.A. VanDevender. 2016. Simulations of Electron Avalanches in an Ultra-Low-Background Proportional Counter. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research. Section A, Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 810. PNNL-SA-114448. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2015.11.123