vero ion chamber

[Starfire]

Photo of a Vero board Ion Chamber Alpha detector made with Tungsten foil and Tantalum wire and a 555 pulse shaper.

[Doug Coulter]

I take it you're going to make one of those things that makes sparks where the ions are produced by a nearby source? Those are pretty darn cool. I guess this would make a fine ion chamber too - though the leakage through the phenolic would tend to obscure the real signal in usual ion chamber conditions where the ion currents are VERY small.
Can't wait to see some results from this! I've been planning one myself, though I don't now have a nice super hot alpha source in hand. My old staticmaster brush elements are a couple half lives old at this point.