A two-dimensional position sensitive ΔE- E counter for energetic light charged particles

Abstract

A large area position sensitive ΔE- E detector for energetic light charged particles is described. A single wire gas proportional counter is used as the ΔE detector, with stop detectors consisting of three 19 mm thick NE 102 scintillators coupled to RCA 8053 photomultipliers. The total active area of the ΔE- E detector is 43 cm 2. Two dimensional position readout is obtained from the proportional counter by a combination of charge division and electron drift time measurements. The detector is suitable for α-particles with energies between 6.5 and 180 MeV. Position resolution is 1 mm in both dimensions, ΔE resolution is 10% and the energy resolution of the scintillators is 3%. The detector is compact enough to fit in a 30″ scattering chamber, where solid angles ≳200 msr may be attained. An application of this detector in studies of charged particle emission in a heavy ion induced reaction is discussed.