The purpose of this appendix is to provide a brief overview of the technology of radiation detection and generation. Through this material an impression may be gained and guidance obtained on what is technically feasible in terms of plasma experiments. The tables of detectors and sources are far from complete and give only representative examples of what was available at the time of writing of the first edition (1985). In a few areas, technological progress has made the examples obsolete, but in most cases, the progress has been predominantly in integration, permitting, for example, multiple detector imaging where previously only single-channel detectors might have been used, and inconvenience and reliability. Naturally, complete design of experiments requires much more detailed information, which is usually available only from manufacturers of the equipment. In the Further reading section some guidance is given on how to go about obtaining the details one needs as well as references to more general texts and reference works on radiation technology.

Detectors

The performance of detectors of electromagnetic radiation may be characterized by a variety of parameters. These parameters are not all independent and are not all appropriate for describing any specific detector, but the more important of them are described in the following.

The most immediate question concerning a detector's operation is what frequency of electromagnetic radiation it is sensitive to. This may, of course, also be specified in terms of wavelength λ or photon energy, the latter being more appropriate for radiation, such as x-rays, in which the photon energy is large.