Undergraduate Research at Jefferson Lab

Recommissioning the Qweak Drift Chambers Using a Cosmic-Ray Telescope

Student: Christian Davison

School: Christopher Newport University

Mentored By: Bradley Sawatsky

The purpose of this project was to recommission the Qweak drift chambers, which are used to measure a particle's position as it passes through the detector stack. This process included testing and approving old Nanometric readout cards that sent data to the time to digital converters (TDCs). From there, the chambers were placed in a cosmic-ray telescope that checked the signals seen in the chambers. By using this setup alongside a simulation program that fed in real-time data, each wire was checked within the drift chamber. After this was verified, the drift chambers were put on track for successfully recommission and plan to be used in future experiments at other department of energy facilities. In addition, Jefferson Lab will now have a more effective manner of testing Nanometric cards that will be used in future detectors.