Recent Developments in Spark Chambers

The parallel developments of a variety of spark-chamber schemes have produced many workable systems with success in experimental applications. Major efforts have developed several methods for direct electrical readout of spark-chamber data. These include the use of magnetic cores for direct digitizing of information from wire spark chambers, as well as the use of Vidicon cameras to observe sparks, and of current division and acoustic transit time in analogue devices to measure spark position. For such systems the on-line use of computers, and (or) the construction of significant electrical interfacing circuitry, are important considerations in efforts to maximize the event rate. Conventional spark-chamber systems using film to record data have benefited from the continued development of automatic off-line scanning and measuring systems. There are also many experiments that will use the unique capabilities of wide-gap spark and streamer chambers.