Abstract. A newly built Pulsed Townsend experimental setup which allows to measure both electron and ion currents is presented. Based on findings operating a previous experiment and on literature, the accuracy of the experimental input parameters was identified as necessary requirement to obtain accurate swarm parameters such as the effective ionization rate coefficient, the density-reduced mobility and the density-normalized longitudinal diffusion coefficient. The influence of the input parameters (gap distance, applied voltage, measured pressure and temperature) is analyzed in detail. An overall accuracy of ±0.5% in the density reduced electric field (E/N ) is achieved, which is close to the theoretically possible limit using the chosen components. The precision of the experimental results is higher than the accuracy. Through an extensive measurement campaign, the repeatability of our measurements proved to be high and similar to the precision. The reproducibility of results at identical (E/N ) is similar to the precision for different distances but decreases for varying pressures. For benchmark purposes, measurements for Ar, CO 2 and N 2 are presented and compared with our previous experimental setup, simulations and other experimental references.PACS numbers: 00.00, 20.00, 42.10 Submitted to: Rev. Sci. Instrum.
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Definitions (from [1] based on GUM [2]):True value:Value that would be obtained by a perfect measurement, true values are indeterminate by nature. Accuracy:Closeness of the agreement between the result of a measurement and a true value of the measurand. Error:Difference between a measurement and the true value of the measurand. Precision:Closeness of agreement between independent measurements of a quantity under the same conditions. It is a measure of how well a measurement can be made without reference to a theoretical or true value (only in [1]). For example the ionization rate is determined by a linear regression of the log(I) versus time there a random noise affecting I would affect the obtained ionization rate. I is the measured current. Repeatability:Precision of results of successive, independent measurements carried out under the same conditions. Reproducibility: Precision of results of successive independent measurements carried out under different conditions. Uncertainty:Parameter, associated with the result of a measurement, that characterizes the dispersion of the values that could reasonably be attributed to the measurand.