A high-resolution, large acceptance scintillation time-of-flight spectrometer

A high-resolution detector array has been developed for the measurement of momenta of charged and uncharged particles via the time-of-flight method. This spectrometer represents one detector arm of a system used to study the photoabsorption mechanisms of (γ, NN) and (γ, πN) reactions. It is comprised of 112 plastic scintillators (NE110) of dimensions 5 × 20 × 300 cm3 with a photomultiplier attached to each end. A mean time resolution of ≲400 ps (FWHM) and a position resolution of ≲6 cm have been achieved. The modularity and flexibility of the array encouraged its use in other electron-and photo-induced reaction measurements.