The CPLEAR Electromagnetic Calorimeter

Abstract

A large-acceptance lead/gas sampling electromagnetic calorimeter (ECAL) was constructed for the CPLEAR experiment to detect photons from decays of $\pi^0$s with momentum $p_{\pi^0} \le 800$ MeV$/c$. The main purpose of the ECAL is to determine the decay vertex of neutral-kaon decays \ko \rightarrow \pi^0\pi^0 \rightarrow 4 \gamma and \ko \rightarrow \pi^0\pi^0\pi^0 \rightarrow 6 \gamma. This requires a position-sensitive photon detector with high spatial granularity in $r$-, $\varphi$-, and $z$-coordinates. The ECAL --- a barrel without end-caps located inside a magnetic field of 0.44 T --- consists of 18 identical concentric layers. Each layer of $1/3$ radiation length (X${_0}$) contains a converter plate followed by small cross-section high-gain tubes of 2640 mm active length which are sandwiched by passive pick-up strip plates. The ECAL, with a total of $6$ X${_0}$, has an energy resolution of $\sigma (E)/E \approx 13\% / \sqrt{E(\mathrm{GeV})}$ and a position resolution of 4.5 mm for the shower foot. The shower topology allows separation of electrons from pions. The design, construction, read-out electronics, and performance of the detector are described