DRIFT CHAMBERS AND TIME

PROJECTION CHAMBERS
GROUP MEMBERS
Mushaf Zameer
Rida shahzad
Hurriyat Arooj
Maria Rasheed
Urooj Fatima
 DRIFT CHAMBERS
Gas filled chambers to detect and track the position of
charged particles.
SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM
 WORKING PRINCIPLE

 IONIZATION:

Charged particles will ionize the gas.

 APPLICATION OF ELECTRIC FEILD:

If an electric field is applied, the electrons will start to drift through the
gas towards the positive electrode (anode).

NOTE:
(The ions also drift in the opposite direction. However, their drift speed is
much less than that of the electrons, so they can be ignored in this
discussion.)
IT IS PREFERABLE TO KEEP THE DRIFT VELOCITY
CONSTANT WHEN THE SMALL ELECTRIC FIELD IS
USED.
 WORKING PRINCIPLE

 AVALANCHE:

If the electric field near the anode is strong enough, an electron can
acquire enough energy between collisions to knock an additional electron
free from a gas molecule. This additional electron can then go on to ionize
more gas molecules; in this way, an avalanche is formed in which the
number of electrons increases exponentially.

 MEASUREMENT OF CURRENT:

When this avalanche reaches the positive electrode, it gives rise to a

measurable current, the size of which is proportional to the original number
of ions created.
AVALANCHE
 WORKING PRINCIPLE

 DRIFT VELOCITY:

An electron sitting in the gas far away from the anode will see a much
smaller electric field, and will drift towards the anode with a velocity
roughly proportional to the field called drift velocity.

 TRACK MEASUREMENT:

The fact that an electron drifts with a predictable speed over most of
the distance . In order to obtain a linear relationship between distance and
time X=V*T, it is necessary that the electric field be made as constant as
possible over as large a volume as possible.
 WORKING PRINCIPLE

 SCINTILLATION COUNTERS:

If the time of particle when entering the gas, and drift time
is known using scintillation counters. So, the time
difference, T, between fast START signal from scintillator
counter and STOP signal from drift chamber is used to
calculate the track position:
X=V*T
BASIC COMPONENTS OF A DRIFT
CHAMBER

 Anode wire
 Cathode
 Scintillation counter
 Electric field
 Gas mixture
BASIC COMPONENTS OF A DRIFT
CHAMBER

 Anode:
It is a gold coated tungsten wire having a diameter of 30µm.

 Electric field:
The electric field in a drift chamber provides two functions:
o Drift : achieved by the field provided by an arrangement of
electrodes set at certain potential.
o Amplification: done by the field around sense wires.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF A DRIFT
CHAMBER

 Cathode drift wires:

They carry a non uniform negative voltage, which varies from
ground close to the anode wire down to a high negative voltage
close to the field wire.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF A DRIFT
CHAMBER

 Gas mixture:
 Gas inside the chamber serves as a medium in which the
processes of ionization, drift and amplification develop.
 Usually the inexpensive Argon gas along with a small amount
of organic gas mostly methane is used.
 The optimal mixture of gases depends on the desired drift
velocity, cost and security.
 Gas purity is very important. Contaminants can change the
drift velocity.
BASIC COMPONENTS OF A DRIFT
CHAMBER

 Scintillation counters:
They measure the time electrons take from ionization to
travel(drift) to the amplifying anode wire.
TIME PROJECTION CHAMBERS
 INTRODUCTION

 Invented in 1974 by David Nygren.

 TPC is basically a long DC with parallel electric and
magnetic fields.
 TPCs can be as small as grapefruit or weigh as much
as 10 tons.
 It is a cylindrical detector.
 NEARLY IDEAL CHAMBERS

 TPCs have large solid angles.

 Yield mass information.
 Particle identification via dE/dx.
 Good pattern recognition.
 3-dimensional measurement of a track unlike wire
chambers(1D).
 Typical resolution:
o z,y: mm
o X:150_300 µm
o dE/dx: 5_10%
 INGREDIANTS

 Gas/liquid or both
E.g. Ar + 10 to 20 % CH4
 E-field (uniform)
E ~ 100 to 200 V/cm
 B-field (uniform and strong)
 to measure momentum.
 to limit electron diffusion.
 Wire chamber
 to detect projected tracks.
 PRINCIPLE AND GROUPING

 Principle:
 Charge particles ionize the gas during their travel.
 Liberated electrons drift towards readout chambers.
 Their position, density and arrival time is recorded.
 Together with collision time, this allows for a full 3D construction
of event.
 Grouping of TPCs:
1. Electron/positron storage rings: PEP4 (for 29 GeV -collisions at
SLAC)
2. Heavy ions: fixed-target and collider experiments:
ALICE for LHC at CERN
 WORKING

 A cylindrical chamber with multi-wire proportional chambers

as end plates.
 Divided into two halves by high voltage cathode and anode
at ends which produce electric field.
 Magnetic field is applied parallel to electric field.
 WORKING

 Magnetic field deflects the path and refrain electrons from

diffusion.
 It gives three dimensional picture of collision.
WORKING
 WORKING

 Charged particles travel through substance which is

argon gas and ionize atoms.
 Knocks free electrons.
 They are absorbed by the detection wires which give
positional information in two dimensions.
 WORKING

 Third dimension is measured by calculating time along the

parallel axis of cylinder from the ionization place to the detector
wires.
 Total charge deposit at ends gives total energy loss by particle in
passing through chamber , from this velocity is measured.
 Momentum is measured from curved space points in magnetic
field by this relation:
𝑩 = 𝒑𝒄/𝒒𝐫
 And then mass is calculated from this and we can detect the
subatomic particles.
COMPARISON B/W DC AND TPC

 Drift chambers are basically wire detectors that allow

and measure the drift time of the ionizing electrons
whereas time projection chambers yield the charge
and mass and energy information as well.

 Drift chambers use electric field for the electrons

drift whereas in TPC’s both uniform electric and
magnetic fields are applied parallel to the axis.
COMPARISON B/W DC AND TPC

 Tpc’s give excellent spatial resolution in 3-D as

compared to the drift chambers which allow the
particles resolution in 1-D only.

 Drift chambers can be planar or cylindrical but Time

projection chambers can only have cylindrical
symmetry.
 ADVANTAGES

o DRIFT CHAMBERS:
 Reliable and less expensive than other detectors.
 Can be made into TPC’s in cylindrical form.
 Relatively less complicated because they contain fewer
wires.
 Used in air shower arrays and high energy laboratories.
AIR SHOWER ARRAY
 ADVANTAGES

o TIME PROJECTION CHAMBERS:

 Allow good pattern recognition of the particles with a
large number of sensitive elements.
 Allow high electron mobility.
 Self calibration is possible in both chambers.
 Read out data relatively easy.
 REFRENCES

Sub atomic physics by Ernest M Henley and Alejandro

Gracia.
https://cds.cern.ch/record/1302071/files/CERN-PH-EP-2010-
047.pdf
https://www.symmetrymagazine.org/article/october-
2012/time-projection-chambers-a-milestone-in-particle-
detector-technology
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_projection_chamber