Detection of individual relativistic electrons using a superheated superconducting colloid

Transition radiation TR emitted When an individual electron passes through the superheated superconducting colloid (SSC) has been detected. The preliminary analysis shows that: a) the detection of individual electrons is possible; the detection efficiency rises with energy faster than linearly for 1 GeV <= E <= 5 GeV b) the TR signal-ionization is better than five for a few GeV electrons. The use of the SSC detector to discern between electrons and hadrons is suggested. The extrapolation of our results shows that a relatively thin, 3 cm of SSC, i.e. about 10 g/cc, transition radiation detector should have almost 100% efficiency for detection of electrons with energy higher than 1 GeV, whereas the probability to observe the comparable signal is below 10-4 for heavier particles