The IceCube prototype string in AMANDA

The Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA) is a high-energy neutrino telescope. It is a lattice of optical modules (OM) installed in the clear ice below the South Pole Station. Each OM contains a photomultiplier tube (PMT) that detects photons of Cherenkov light generated in the ice by muons and electrons. ICECUBE is a cubic-kilometer-sized expansion of AMANDA currently being built at the South Pole. In ICECUBE the PMT signals are digitized already in the optical modules and transmitted to the surface. A prototype string of 41 OMs equipped with this new all-digital technology was deployed in the AMANDA array in the year 2000. In this paper we describe the technology and demonstrate that this string serves as a proof of concept for the ICECUBE array. Our investigations show that the OM timing accuracy is 5 ns. Atmospheric muons are detected in excellent agreement with expectations with respect to both angular distribution and absolute rate.