Limited Streamer Tube System for Detecting Contamination in the Gas Used in the BaBar Instrumented Flux Return

The Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) initially installed in the Instrumented Flux Return (IFR) of the BABAR particle detector have proven unreliable and inefficient for detecting muons and neutral hadrons. In the summer of 2004, the BABAR Collaboration began replacing the RPCs with Limited Streamer Tubes (LSTs). LST operation requires a mixture of very pure gases and an operating voltage of 5500 V to achieve maximum efficiency. In the past, the gas supplies obtained by the BABAR Collaboration have contained contaminants that caused the efficiency of the IFR LSTs to drop from approximately 90% to approximately 60%. Therefore, it was necessary to develop a method for testing this gas for contaminants. An LST test system was designed and built using two existing LSTs, one placed 1 cm above the other. These LSTs detect cosmic muons in place of particles created during the BABAR experiment. The effect of gas contamination was mimicked by reducing the operating voltage of the test system in order to lower the detection efficiency. When contaminated gas was simulated, the coincidence rate and the percent coincidence between the LSTs in the test system dropped off significantly, demonstrating that test system can be used as an indicator of gas purity. In the fall of 2006, the LST test system will be installed in the gas storage area near the BABAR facility for the purpose of testing the gas being sent to the IFR