Tracking with capillaries and liquid scintillator

The technique of glass capillaries filled with liquid scintillator allows the reconstruction of ionizing particle tracks with high spatial resolution. Detectors based on this technique consist of coherent arrays of capillaries having diameters of the order of 20 μm. Light signals are amplified by an optoelectronic chain composed of a series of image intensifiers: the readout is performed through a CCD. The ongoing research in the field of liquid scintillators has led to excellent results in terms of information density (≥5 hits/mm) and radiation resistance (order of 1 MGy). In this paper new results about the effect of ageing and purification of liquid scintillators will be presented. The RD46 collaboration has developed a completely new detector having a readout chain composed of only one image intensifier followed by a new device: a megapixel electron bombarded CCD. First images of neutrino interactions will be shown, together with preliminary measurements of the resolution of the detector. (orig.)