A measurement of the response of an SCG1-C scintillation glass shower detector to 2–17.5 GeV positrons

Abstract

We have measured the response of an electromagnetic shower counter constructed from the new scintillation glass (SCG1-C, Ohara Optical Glass, Inc.) to positrons in the energy range 2 to 17.5 GeV. We have measured the energy resolution of this 18.4 radiation length detector plus its attendant SF5 lead glass shower counter array to be σ/ E = (1.64±0.14)%+(1.13±0.33)%/√ E with the constant term dominated by variations in the variations in the conversion point of the positron and shower leakage. We found this counter to be linear over the energy range examined. We have also measured the light output of the SCG1-C counter relative to light output of the SF5 lead glass guard blocks using 17.5 GeV positrons. We find that the SCG1-C counter produces 5.10±0.30 more light at the phototube than the SF5 lead glass counters.