Development of a scintillating-fibre detector with position-sensitive photomultipliers for high-rate experiments

An extensive study was performed on the development of fast and precise scintillating-fibre detectors with position-sensitive photomultipliers (PSPM) for application in high-rate experiments. Several detector prototypes with Kuraray multi-cladding fibres of 0.5 mm diameter and Hamamatsu 16-channel H6568 PSPMs were constructed and tested under different beam conditions at the CERN PS and SPS beam lines. High time resolution of the order of 300 ps (r.m.s.) was obtained with spatial resolution of about 125 μm (r.m.s.) and with detection efficiency in excess of 98%. The detector prototype equipped with a 3-m-long light guide was also tested and showed a time resolution of about 540 ps (r.m.s.). Results of tests using a high-intensity muon beam show excellent stability of the detector performances in time and spatial resolutions as well as in detection efficiency under beam fluxes of up to 1.4×108 muons per 2.4-second spill.