Construction and characterization of a multiwire proportional chamber detector
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Abstract
We have built and characterized a gaseous particle detector of the type “multiwire proportional chamber”, known as MWPC. The detector consists of an electronic circuit inside a hermetically sealed acrylic box, in an appropriate atmosphere of gas. Once the mechanical and electrical operation was verified, we performed the characterization as a particle detector. We measured the characteristic curve, consisting of the electrical charge collected at the electrodes, as function of applied voltage. Then we measured the count rate, for muons from cosmic radiation, versus voltage, known as “Plateau curve”. These measurements were performed with different mixtures of gases: 100%Air, 100% Ar, 100% CH4 and 90% Ar+10% CH4 (P10). In the results we discuss the operation of the detector at different voltages, for these gas mixtures. The best performance was obtained with the P10 mixture, for which, the detector works in the proportional region, for voltages between 3700 V to 4000 V, with an optimal operating voltage of 3850 V.Keywords
Particle detectors, multiwire proportional chamber, ionization chamber, proportional counter, characteristic curve
Author Biography
Hector Fabio Castro Serrato
Profesor Asociado, 20018 -
Departamento de Fisica
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Profesor Asociado, 2005 - 2008
Departamento de Física
Universidad de los Andes
Bogotá - Colombia
Investigador Asociado, 1998 - 2004
Instituto de Fisica y Astronomia
Universidad de Tel Aviv, Israel
Investigador Asociado, 2006 - 2008
Instituto de Fisica Experimental
Universidad de Lausana, Suiza
Investigador Asociado
Centro Europeo de Investigación Nuclear - CERN
Ginebre - Suiza
ESTUDIOS
PhD, 1991 - 1995
Universidad de Lausana, Suiza
Fisico, 1982 - 1987
Universidad de los Andes
Bogotá - Colombia
Ingeniero Electrico, 1980 - 1985
Universidad de los Andes
Bogotá - Colombia
Maritza Juliette Delgado Gonzalez
2015 - Estudiante Doctorado, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá
2011-2014 - Maestría en Fisica, Universidad nacional de Colombia
2005 - 2010 - Pregrado en Fisica, Universidad Pedagogica de Colombia
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