Field-enhanced transmission secondary emission for high-speed counting

The time-response of high-gain transmission-type dynodes using KC1 in the form of a low density layer is investigated. Both the results using light-pulses and charged particles directly incident on these dynodes indicate no detectable time lag within the limits of the experimental method (< 0.5 × 10
^-9
sec). The number of emitted secondaries under the impact of α-particles and electrons confirms the theoretical expectation that the yield is proportional to the rate of energy loss per unit distance, dE/dx. The results indicate that transmissive dynodes of the low density type with yields between 50-100 secondaries per incident 5 kev electron can be used both for high-speed electron multiplication and direct detection of nuclear particles without the use of scintillators.