Scintillating fiber calorimeters with cast absorbers

The technology to construct cast lead-eutectic scintillating fiber calorimeters for measuring the energy of hadron and electromagnetic showers is discussed. The lead eutectic injection process, mold construction and release equipment, and fiber preform are described, along with beam test results on prototypes. Novel extensions of the technique include liquid fiber forward calorimeters, and shot-loading of the molten eutectic to achieve variable absorption properties. This lead eutectic and eutectic/shot slurry casting technique for solid and liquid fiber calorimetry has significant potential advantages in the ease of fabrication compared with laminated fiber insertion techniques while preserving an electromagnetic resolution similar to that obtained with laminated fiber calorimeters. The addition of micro-shot to the molten eutectic enables fiber calorimeters with variable properties, such as an interaction length approximately 30% smaller than lead calorimeters (tungsten loading), or modified neutron sensitivities. The combination of short radiation length/Moliere radius ( approximately 1/2 of BaF/sub 2/, for example), low cost, and energy resolution is unique.<>