The OPAL vertex detector prototype

Abstract The prototype test results of a high resolution charged particle tracking detector are reported. The detector is designed to measure vertex topologies of particles produced in the e + e − collisions of the OPAL experiment at LEP. The OPAL vertex detector is a 1 m long, 0.46 m diameter cylindrical drift chamber consisting of an axial and stereo layer each of which is divided into 36 jet cells. A prototype chamber containing four axial and two stereo cells was studied using a pion test beam at CERN. The studies examined the prototype under a variety of operating conditions. An r − φ resolution of 60 μm was obtained when the chamber was operated with argon (50%)-ethane (50%) at 3.75 bar, and when CO 2 (80%)-isobutane (20%) at 2.5 bar was used a 25 μm resolution was achieved. A z measurement using end-to-end time difference has a resolution of 3.5 cm. The details of these prototype studies are discussed in this paper.