<title>Advanced gamma-ray astronomy telescope experiment: AGATE</title>

Abstract

In order to continue the achievements in high energy (10 MeV - 100 GeV) gamma-ray astronomy made with the Energetic Gamma-Ray Experiment Telescope (EGRET) instrument on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory (CGRO), a 'next generation' high energy gamma- ray telescope with a large increase in sensitivity coupled with improved angular resolution will be required. This 'next generation' telescope is envisioned as a 2 m X 2 m active area telescope using drift chambers for the imaging detector. The four major components of the instrument are the anticoincidence shield, the track imaging system, the coincidence/time-of- flight system and the energy measurement system. In this paper we discuss the design goals and challenges for the four subsystems and the techniques we are utilizing to achieve them as well as the design and performance of high speed electronics that we have developed specifically for this application.