A system of multiwire drift chambers for wide-aperture spectrometers

A system of wide-aperture drift chambers with an operating area of 2.5×1.9 m2 and 1.5×1.5 m2 is described. The chamber, operating with two gas mixtures, is studied. The dependence of the chambers efficiency on the high voltages applied to the cathodes and potential wires, and the time distributions are presented. Using the system of drift chambers, a spatial distribution of ∼ 180 μm was achieved for straight tracks in a 8-mm drift gap. The chambers were included in the track systems of the VES and GAMS spectrometers at the Y-70 accelerator of the Institute for High-Energy Physics (Protvino).