Principle of Operation
Geiger counter instruments consist of two main elements; the Geiger-Muller tube and the processing and display electronics. The radiation sensing element is an inert gas-filled Geiger-Muller tube (usually containing helium, neon or argon with halogens added) which briefly conducts electrical charge when a particle or photon of radiation makes the gas conductive by ionization. The tube has the property of being able to amplify each ionization event by means of the avalanche effect and produces an easily measured current pulse which is passed to the processing electronics. The readout can be analogue or digital.
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