Performance and Development of d<i>E</i>/d<i>x</i>Counters

Abstract

The performance of existing or nearly completed detectors for particle identification by using the relativistic rise of energy loss will be discussed. Detailed analysis of systematic errors leads finally to large detector systems approaching the ultimate resolution as measured in small test devices. New methods for extracting the information from the counter with the potential of better particles separation than standard dE/dx will be presented. It includes very fine sampling, delta-ray clipping, and cluster counting.