SCINTILLATING OPTICAL FIBER TRAJECTORY DETECTORS

THIS PROPOSAL IS DIRECTED TOWARD THE DEVELOPMENT OF LARGE AREA, LOW MASS, HIGH RESOLUTION SCINTILLATING OPTICAL FIBER TRAJECTORY DETECTORS SUITABLE FOR USE IN EXPERIMENTS SUCH ASTHOSE BEING CONSIDERED FOR THE PARTICLE ASTRO-PHYSICS MAGNET FACILITY (ASTROMAG) WHICH IS PRESENTLY BEING CONSIDERED FOR FLIGHT ON THE SPACE STATION. THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THIS DETECTOR ARE THAT IT MUST BE CAPABLE OF ATTAINING RESOLUTION OF 50 MICRONS OR BETTER OVER AN AREA OF AT LEAST 1 SQUARE METER, IT MUST HAVE A THICKNESS OFLESS THAN 200 MICRONS PLASTIC EQUIVALENT, AND IT MUST BE CAPABLE OF OPERATING IN A SPACE ENVIRONMENT. SCINTILLATING OPTICAL FIBER DETECTORS OFFER THE POSSIBILITY OF PROVIDING SUCH A DETECTOR. SIGNIFICANT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IS REQUIRED TO DEVELOP THE FIBERS, THE RIBBON FORMING AND MOUNTING TECHNIQUES, AND THE EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUES WHICH CAN ESTABLISH THE FEASIBILITY OF MAKING SUCH LARGE AREA, PRECISION DETECTORS.