Design and tests of the z-coordinate drift chamber system for the opal central detector at LEP

Abstract

A system of drift chambers has been designed to make high resolution measurements of the z-coordinates of charged tracks at the outer radius of the OPAL central detector at LEP. The unit module of this detector is a 25 cm drift length bidirectional cell with six sense wires in a thin 50 cm wide by 29 mm high drift slot. Tests indicate that the chamber has a wide and stable electric field operating range and its performance is unaffected by small misalignments between the drift electric field and an external magnetic field. The drift cell was found to have uniform acceptance up to its geometrical boundaries, and the z-resolution for beam tracks normal to the chamber was measured to be in the range of 40–175 μm.