Physics:Sense wire

An anode wire in multiwire chambers on which the avalanche of electrons is collected ( Gaseous Detectors, Operational Modes). drift chambers, sense wires are usually sandwiched between two field wires. Sense wires are generally thin (of the order of 20-30  diameter) to have a high gradient in the electric field very close to the wire (multiplication region), so that an electron avalanche is produced at not too high a value of the voltage on the cathodes. Sense wires are sometimes resistive wires to measure charge division.