Studies of an integrated photosensor and imaging optics to readout the light from gas scintillation proportional counters

Medical applications and many atomic collision experiments require energy, position, and time resolving X-ray detectors with large active volume, in the energy range from 5 to over 500 keV. We report on the improvements in the readout of a high-pressure xenon-filled gas scintillation proportional counter. The implementation of an imaging optic for the ultraviolet (UV)-scintillation light has improved the position resolution by more than 30%. Microstructure devices such as the gas electron multiplier allow the use of a multistep UV-photon detector inside the pure noble gas environment to simplify the detector setup and improve the long-term stability.