CHARGED-PARTICLE DETECTORS USING RESONANCE TRANSITION RADIATION

WE PLAN TO INVESTIGATE THE USE OF RESONANCE TRANSITION RADIATION TO IDENTIFY ULTRA-RELATIVISTIC CHARGED PARTICLES. WE WILL LOOK INTO METHODS FOR SINGLE AND MULTIPLE PARTICLE IDENTIFICATION. BY SELECTING FOIL THICKNESS AND SPACING, IT IS POSSIBLE TO DESIGN RADIATORS WHOSE ANGLE OF EMISSION INCREASES WITH THE ENERGY OF THE INCIDENT CHARGED PARTICLE. BY NOTING THE STRONG ANALOGOUS RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CERENKOV AND RESONANCE TRANSITION RADIATION, WE PLAN TO DEVELOP A DESIGN FOR DETECTORS WHOSE DESIGN IS SIMILAR TO EXISTING CERENKOV COUNTERS AND DETECTORS. WE WILL SEEK NEW RANGES OF PARTICLE ENERGIES WHERE CERENKOV DEVICE OPERATION IS PROBLEMATIC. WE WILL OPTIMIZE THE PARAMETERS OF FOIL STACKS TO MAXIMIZE THE EFFICIENCY OF X-RAY PRODUCTION, AND WILL DESIGN A LARGE-AREA, HIGH-SPATIAL-RESOLUTION DRIFT CHAMBER FOR THE DETECTION OF THESE X RAYS. THE DESIGN WILL EMPHASIZE THE INTEGRATION OF THE RADIATOR AND THE X-RAY DETECTOR TO MAXIMIZE THE EFFICIENCY OF PARTICLE IDENTIFICATION AND DETECTION. IN PREVIOUS STUDIES, WE HAVE CONSTRUCTED THREE COHERENT RADIATORS AND TESTED THEM AT TWO ACCELERATORS USING ELECTRON BEAM ENERGIES RANGING FROM 50 TO 228 MEV. SOFT X RAYS (1 KEV TO 3 KEV) WERE EMITTED IN A CIRCULARLY SYMMETRICAL ANNULUS WITH HALF-ANGLE DIVERGENCE OF 2.5 TO 9.0 MR. THE ANGLE OF PEAK EMISSION WAS FOUND TO INCREASE WITH ELECTRON-BEAM ENERGY, IN CONTRAST TO THE NON-COHERENT CASE FOR WHICH THE ANGLE OF EMISSION VARIES INVERSELY WITH ELECTRON-BEAM ENERGY. THIS IMPORTANT RESEARCH FINDING PERMITS THE DETERMINATION OF PARTICLE ENERGY AND ALLOWS HIGHER PARTICLE ENERGIES TO BE MEASURED.