Forward Drift Chamber for the GlueX Experiment at the 12 GeV CEBAF Machine

The GlueX experiment will search for exotic mesons produced by 9 GeV linearly polarized photons from the upgraded CEBAF machine. It is critical to detect and measure the four-momenta of all the charged particles and photons resulting from the decays of the mesons. The solenoid-based detector system includes tracking detectors and calorimeters. The Forward Drift Chamber, FDC, consists of 24 circular planar drift chambers of 1m diameter. Additional cathode readout is required to achieve efficient pattern recognition. The detection of photons by the electromagnetic calorimeters imposes constraints on the amount of material used in the FDC. The specific features of the detector and the readout electronics will be described. Results from the tests of the full scale prototype will be presented, as well.