Photography of Comic Ray Tracks with a Cascade Luminescent Chamber

摘要

The tracks of minimum ionizing particles have been photographed in a luminescent chamber for what is believed to be the first time. A cascade luminescent chamber made up of three image tubes coupled with refractive optics has been used to photograph tracks of cosmic ray Μ mesons in a sodium iodide crystal. The apparatus is described, together with details of measurements on image tube characteristics and the nature of background. The same type of apparatus is applicable to other problems where very weak light signals (several thousand photons total) must be photographed.