Compact Multiwire Proportional Chambers and Electronics for the Crystal Ball Detector

A double gap of cylindrical proportional chambers has been designed and built for use with a large solid angle, modular NaI(Tl) array (The Crystal Ball). The chambers are constructed of three coaxial foam-epoxy shells, covered with an aluminum-mylar laminate. One of the high voltage cathodes in each chamber has been photo-etched to produce a pattern of stripes and precise position measurements of tracks passing transverse to the chamber axis are found by pulse height analyzing the shaped and amplified induced strip signals. Performance of the chamber using both the strip signals and the sense wire readout is presented. The design of both the signal handling electronics and the digital portions of the systems is discussed.