Theories of volume recombination of ions between parallel electrodes are briefly reviewed and are compared with extensive published and unpublished experimental data for the case where air is the ionized gas. It is concluded that Mie's theory is true over the range tested (currents greater than 0·7 of saturation current), but that of Boag and Wilson is valid only very near to saturation. A simple expression is deduced from Mie's theory giving the efficiency of ion collection in terms of electrode separation, rate of ion production, polarizing voltage, recombination coefficient and ion mobilities. The application of this expression to the determination of saturation currents and to the design of ionization chambers is discussed, and brief mention is made of losses due to diffusion and initial recombination.
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J R Greening (1964) studied this question.
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