Determination of the efficiency of a proportional counter for detecting X-rays

A parallel beam of X-rays (approximately monoenergetic) passing through a rectangular slit and scattering from two flat mirrors comprise the X-ray test. The two mirrors are arranged in a periscope geometry so that the final reflected beam is parallel to the incident beam but displaced laterally by given amount. One of the detectors used to intercept the reflected X-rays is a one dimensional gas-filled proportional counter which is sensitive to the position (in 1 dimension) at which the X-rays are incident within its detecting "window". The total length of the anode wire of the proportional counter is 120 mm and this length can be divided electronically into a maximum of 1,024 parts. Hence, the output of an experimental run would be the number of incident X-rays that registered on each of the 1,024 channels. Each channel would represent an X-ray at a different spatial location and, hence, at a different scattering angle. In order to look at a wider range of scattering angles, the detector is placed on an optical table which can be rotated.