Shop slang for a portable ionisation chamber dose rate meter, taken from a pistol-grip instrument and applied to the whole class. Ion chambers give accurate gamma and beta dose rates with a flat energy response, so they are the preferred meter for measuring fields and posting areas, while Geiger-Mueller instruments are used for finding contamination. Many techs simply say ion chamber.
Grab the cutie pie, I want a real dose rate on that filter housing, not a GM reading.
Also heard as
- cutie-pie
- ion chamber
- ion chamber meter
Related terms
Survey meter
A portable instrument used to measure radiation dose rates or detect contamination in the field.
Roentgen
A unit of exposure that measures how much X or gamma radiation ionises air.
High radiation area
A posted area where a person could receive more than 1 mSv (100 mrem) in an hour at 30 cm from a source.
Pancake probe
A flat, wide-window Geiger-Mueller detector used for frisking because it picks up beta and alpha contamination well.