A high-resolution detector based on liquid-core scintillating fibres with readout via an electron-bombarded charge-coupled device

Abstract This paper is a presentation of results from tests in a 5 GeV/ c hadron beam of detectors based on liquid-core scintillating fibres, each fibre consisting of a glass capillary filled with organic liquid scintillator. Fibre readout was performed via an Electron-Bombarded Charge-Coupled Device (EBCCD) image tube, a novel instrument that combines the functions of a high-gain, gated image intensifier and a Charge-Coupled Device. Using 1-methylnaphthalene doped with 3 g/l of R45 as liquid scintillator, the attenuation lengths obtained for light propagation over distances greater than 16 cm were 1.5 m in fibres of 20 μm core and 1.0 m in fibres of 16 μm core. For particles that crossed the fibres of 20 μm core at distances of ∼ 1.8 cm and ∼ 95 cm from the fibres' readout ends, the recorded hit densities were 5.3 mm −1 and 2.5 mm −1 respectively. Using 1-methylnaphthalene doped with 3.6 g/l of R39 as liquid scintillator and fibres of 75 μm core, the hit density obtained for particles that crossed the fibres at a distance of ∼ 1.8 cm from their readout ends was 8.5 mm −1 . With a specially designed bundle of tapered fibres, having core diameters that smoothly increase from 16 μm to 75 μm, a spatial precision of 6 μm was measured.