First measurements with a diamond microstrip detector

We have constructed the first high resolution strip detector using chemical vapor deposited diamond as the detection medium. Devices produced with this material have the possibility of being extremely radiation hard with direct applications at high luminosity colliders. This paper details the detector material, the low noise readout electronics and the detector module. First results from a test with high momentum charged particles in a testbeam at CERN are described. We achieved a signal-to-noise of 6 : 1 and an efficiency of 85% for minimum ionizing particles in the testbeam. The detector has a strip pitch of 100 μm and a strip width of 50 μm. The measured position resolution we achieved was σ=26 μm. Future development of diamond detectors with application in particle physics experiments and other fields is discussed. ((orig.))