The Bubble Chamber

Abstract

The bubble chamber is a new type of particle detector that combines many of the advantages of the cloud chamber and the nuclear emulsion for experiments with high energy accelerators. It consists of a closed vessel provided with windows and filled with a liquid at a temperature above the normal boiling point and under sufficient pressure to prevent actual boiling. When the pressure on the liquid is suddenly reduced by some sort of expansion mechanism, the liquid becomes thermodynamically unstable against formation of vapor bubbles. If the degree of instability is sufficient, the formation of bubbles can be nucleated by the passage of ionizing radiation through the chamber. In this way the paths of charged particles are revealed as strings of tiny bubbles which can be photographed to give a permanent record of interesting nuclear events. Bubble chambers now in operation are rectangular or cylindrical in shape, range in sensitive volume from a few cubic centimeters to ten liters or more, and operate with various liquids including hydrogen, helium, xenon, diethyl ether, propane and solutions containing more than one component.KeywordsBubble GrowthLiquid HydrogenBubble NucleationBubble ChamberNuclear EmulsionThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.