Tests of a single-wire drift chamber for possible use in low intensity beams

A single cell drift chamber with two dimensional readout has been evaluated as a candidate for reliable and inexpensive momentum tagging of low intensity calibration beams. Charges induced on shaped cathode pads allow a measurement of the coordinate parallel to the wire, while the drift time allows a measurement of the coordinate perpendicular to the wire. Two chamber orientations were used during the tests. In one the chambers were arranged with their wires parallel. In this case the intrinsic resolution of the chambers was measured; the top and bottom cells were used to define a track coordinate and this was compared to the coordinate in the middle chamber. To see if either of the two coordinate measurements is linear in real space, the chambers were rearranged to the second orientation, with the middle chamber rotated 900. The drift time was plotted against the charge ratio. The conclusion drawn from this study is that while the drift time measurement has adequate resolution, the charge ratio measurement is not a viable option for beam line use