A phoswich array for relativistic heavy ion collisions

Abstract A phoswich array consisting of 42 ΔE − E scintillator telescopes is described. The array was used for the measurement of charged pions, protons, deuterons and tritons produced near target rapidity in relativistic collisions of 14.6 A GeV/ c 28 Si nuclei with targets ranging in mass from aluminum to gold. The present paper describes the array, its operation and performance, its response to protons, deuterons and tritons, and the means by which the detector has been calibrated. Intrinsic energy resolutions on the order of 2–3% have been obtained.