The use of scintillating fibers for charged-particle tracking

Abstract

The demand for instrumentation capable of detecting and triggering on ionizing radiation in high-rate particle physics experiments at colliding-beam and fixed-target accelerator facilities and for spacecraft-borne instrumentation in astrophysics has led to the development of new tracking technologies. One of these, scintillating fiber tracking, combines the speed and efficiency of a scintillation detector with the flexibility and hermeticity afforded by fiber technology. A paradigm for a fiber-tracking detector that utilizes organic plastic fibers read out with visible-light photon counters is presented and critiqued. Alternate strategies are considered, and an overview of recent experimental applications is provided.