Design and construction elements for scintillating fibre tracking detectors

Abstract

In many nuclear and particle physics experiments, it is necessary to ascertain precise information about a particle's trajectory, or its position at specific locations (as a means for then determining angle or momentum). A common way to determine this information is by using a scintillating fibre tracker, a device that relies on scintillation light from ionizing charged particles (such as electrons or protons) within scintillating fibres, and guiding the produced scintillation light through standard fibre optics to determine which scintillating fibre detected the particle. This thesis discusses, and presents results for technical issues associated with designing and constructing such a detector: (1) adjacent scintillating fibre-to-fibre cross-talk, and (2) the effect on light transmission of the combination of different fibre-end finishes and clear-to-scintillating fibre optical couplants. These results will be directly incorporated into the construction of a scintillating fibre coordinate detector to be built for future experiments at Jefferson Lab's Hall A in Newport News, VA, USA.