Position sensitive and Bragg curve spectroscopy detector system

A heavy ion gas detector system consisting of a Bragg-curve spectroscopy ionization chamber for particle identification and a multiwire proportional chamber as position sensitive fast trigger device is described. The Bragg IC has been tested with several beams up to Z = 36 to investigate some aspects of the BCS method. Results are reported on energy resolution and linearity, Z resolving power and mass sensitivity. The energy resolution is well below 1%. The Bragg-peak amplitude is fairly independent of the energy in a wide energy range and single elements are identified up to Z = 38 with a resolving power Z/ΔZ − 50-80. Isotope identification by range measurement is limited by the straggling in the ionization process and the mass resolving power is M/ΔM ∼ 20–26 for S and Si isotopes. The MWPC allows subnanosecond time resolution and position identification along the in-plane coordinate within ±0.5 mm.