Detector, UV, V-2 Era

Experimental side window ultraviolet detector made specifically for sounding rocket research by Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). The lithium fluoride window material serves as a filter to admit ultraviolet radiation. Glyptol is used as the sealant. This detector is representative of those flown from the 1950s through the 1960s and is very similar to those flown on V-2's. These counters employ a gas filled tube with a cylindrical cathode and a wire anode in the middle. Photons of energetic radiation that enter the tube will ionize the filling gas making it electrically conductive. This will cause a discharge to flow which results in a countable electrical signal. This artifact is part of a collection of high energy detectors from the NRL (see Catalogue#s 19880001000-19880017000). It was transferred to NASM in 1987.