Patent ID: 8729487

Claim:
A neutron detector comprising: a conductive cathode sheet having a thickness less than about 1 mm, coated with neutron reactive material on at least one surface thereof, and formed into a selected shape in which selected portions of said sheet are facing other selected portions of said sheet; dielectric material separating said facing portions, said dielectric material having a thickness less than about 5 mm and covering less than about 80% of the surface area of said facing portions of said cathode sheet; a plurality of anode wires of diameter less than about 1 mm, generally parallel to said facing portions of said cathode sheet and separated therefrom by said dielectric, with the distance between adjacent anode wires being no more than 20 times the distance between said facing portions of said cathode sheet; and, an ionizable gas in the space adjacent to said cathode sheets and said anode wires; wherein said selected shape is formed by folding said cathode sheet around rectangular frames of said dielectric material so that said facing portions of said cathode sheet are substantially flat rectangles and define opposite surfaces of a gas cavity in the shape of a rectangular prism with said anode wires therein, and, a plurality of said folds are formed consecutively, thereby forming a stack containing a plurality of said gas cavities, wherein each rectangular portion of said cathode sheet forms a cathode surface in two adjacent gas cavities, one on either surface of said cathode sheet.