Electromagnetic calorimetry with lead fluoride crystals

The properties of four PbF2 crystals of size 21x21x175 mm3 were studied with electron and pion beams in the energy range from 1 to 6 GeV. An energy resolution for electrons of 6.3%/√(E/GeV) was achieved with a 2x2 matrix of four PbF2 crystals, which corresponds to 5.6%/√(E/GeV) when corrected for lateral leakage by Monte Carlo simulations. The deviation from linearity was smaller than 0.5%. The time resolution was found to be better than 0.6 ns. We studied also optical properties, radiation hardness, position resolution and spatial homogeneity. An efficient separation of electromagnetic and hadronic showers was achieved. ((orig.))