Physics:Streamer chamber

An optical chamber using the fact that streamer discharges can be controlled by pulsing the field; such discharges occur along the path of an ionizing particle, in a gas subjected to an electric field ( Gaseous Detectors, Operational Modes). The resulting beginnings of sparks can be recorded optically, and the recorded information analysed off-line. Chambers with a sensitive volume of several cubic metres were built, using fields of extremely short duration ( File:Hepb img595.gif  ns FWHM).

The technique competed with that of bubble chambers, producing images of excellent quality over large volumes, and had the advantage of being triggerable by external devices (via the pulsed electric field). Streamer chambers were used in colliding beams (see Rushbrooke81) and in fixed-target experiments (e.g. Teitelbaum92), the collision point or target being outside the chamber. The need for optical recording and the associated dead time eventually turned out to favour electronic techniques like drift chambers.