Design of a wire imaging synchrotron radiation detector

The design of a detector invented to measure the positions of synchrotron radiation beams for the precision energy spectrometers of the Stanford Linear Collider (SLC) is described. The energy measurements involve the determination, on a pulse-by-pulse basis, of the separation of pairs of intense beams of synchrotron photons in the megaelectronvolt energy range. The detector intercepts the beams with arrays of fine wires. The ejection of Compton recoil electrons results in charges being developed in the wires, thus enabling a determination of beam positions