A high resolution planar straw tracking chamber system

The experiment E871 at BNL's AGS will primarily search for violation of lepton-flavor conservation in K/sub L/ to mu e decays. Design studies undertaken to address the challenges of tracking in E871 are reported. A planar straw tracking system is being developed for the rare kaon decay experiment. The design considerations and preliminary results from two prototypes obtained with radioactive sources, with cosmic rays, and in the beam are presented.<>