A broad-range detector system with large geometric efficiency for heavy-ion reaction studies

Abstract

A detector module sensitive to heavy ions, capable of covering a very large solid angle, and having a broad dynamic range in energy and atomic number has been designed and tested. It is tapered, has a pentagonal cross section and has been constructed to permit close-packing in a spherical array with a minimum of inactive area. The detector consists of a radial-field drift chamber for Bragg-curve spectroscopy, followed by a thin fast-plastic scintillator laminated to a thick slow-plastic scintillator for light-ion detection; the two scintillators are read together in phoswich ΔE — E mode. Mixed-mode operation is also possible, with the drift chamber serving as a ΔE counter and the fast plastic scintillator providing an energy signal. Tests with a beam of 145 MeV ²⁸Si ions have shown that for 83% geometric efficiency (active/total solid angle) the Bragg curve spectrometer gives $\text{Δ}\text{Z}\text{Z ⋍ 5\%}\text{at}\text{Z = 12}$ and $\text{Δ}\text{E}\text{E ⋍ 6\%}$ for silicon ions depositing 100 MeV in the detector. Mixed mode operation has 70% geometric efficiency with a measured $\text{Δ}\text{Z}\text{Z ⋍ 5\%}$ for Z = 8. Phoswich mode operation also has 70% geometric efficiency and gives $\text{Δ}\text{Z}\text{Z ⋍ 6\%}$ for Z = 2; isotopic identification of light ions is unambiguous.