Optimisation of low-mass drift chambers for HADES

Abstract A set of low-mass drift chambers designed for the tracking of di-electrons in the HADES spectrometer is presented. Short radiation length is ensured by using a Helium-based gas mixture and aluminium cathode wires, whereas the acceptance is maximised by limiting the width of the side frames of the detectors. The measured performance of these devices, which improves with increasing concentration of quencher gas, is shown and discussed. Position resolutions down to 70 μm have been obtained under stable operation. Long-term gain stability is also reported.