Detecting excess ionizing radiation by electromagnetic breakdown of air

A scheme is proposed for detecting a concealed source of ionizing radiation by observing the occurrence of breakdown in atmospheric air by an electromagnetic wave whose electric field surpasses the breakdown field in a limited volume. The volume is chosen to be smaller than the reciprocal of the naturally occurring concentration of free electrons. The pulse duration of the electromagnetic wave must exceed the avalanche breakdown time (10-200 ns) and could profitably be as long as the statistical lag time in ambient air (typically, microseconds). Candidate pulsed electromagnetic sources over a wavelength range, 3 mm > lambda > 10.6 mu m, are evaluated. Suitable candidate sources are found to be a 670 GHz gyrotron oscillator with 200 kW, 10 mu s output pulses and a Transversely Excited Atmospheric-Pressure (TEA) CO2 laser with 30 MW, 100 ns output pulses. A system based on 670 GHz gyrotron would have superior sensitivity. A system based on the TEA CO2 laser could have a longer range > 100 m. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3484044]