By Fabio Sauli
Cambridge University Press
Also available at the CERN bookshop
In the last few decades, fast revolutionary developments have taken place in the field of gaseous detectors. At the start of the 1970s, multiwire proportional chambers were invented. These detectors and their descendants (drift chambers, time-projection chambers, ring-imaging Cherenkov detectors, etc) rapidly replaced cloud and bubble chambers, as well as spark counters, in many high-energy physics experiments. At the end of the last century, resistive-plate chambers and micropattern detectors were introduced, which opened up new avenues in applications.
Ironically, for a long time, no books had been published on gaseous detectors and their fast evolution. For this reason, in spite of thousands of scientific publications covering the rapid and exciting developments in the field of gaseous detectors, no simple and analytical description has been made available for a wide audience of non-professionals, including, for example, students.
Suddenly “an explosion” took place: several books dedicated to modern gaseous detectors and their applications appeared on the market, almost all at the same time.
Sauli’s book is certainly one of the best of these. The author, a leading figure in the field, has succeeded in writing a remarkable and charming book, which I strongly recommend to anyone interested in learning about recent progress, open questions and future perspectives of gaseous detectors. Throughout its 490 pages, it offers a broad coverage of the subject.
The first five chapters focus on fundamentals: the interaction of charged particles and photons with matter, the drift and diffusion of electrons and ions, and avalanche multiplications. This first part of the book offers a refreshing mix of basic facts and up-to-date research, but avoids giving too much space to formulas and complicated mathematics, so non-specialists can also gain from the reading.
The remaining eight chapters are dedicated to specific detectors, from single-wire proportional counters to state-of-the-art micro-pattern gaseous detectors. This latter part of the book gives exhaustive detail and describes the design and operational features, including signal development, time and position resolutions, and other important characteristics. The last chapter deals with degeneracy and ageing – serious problems that detectors can experience if the gas composition and construction materials are not chosen carefully.
This fascinating book is easy to read, so it is suitable for everyone, and in particular, I believe, for young people. I was especially impressed by the care with which the author prepared many figures, which in some cases include details that I have not seen in previous texts of this kind. The high-quality figures and photographs contribute significantly to making this book well worth reading. In my opinion, it is not only remarkably complementary to other recently published monographs, but it can also serve as a main textbook for those who are new to the field.
The only omission I have observed in this otherwise wide-ranging and well-researched book, is the lack of discussion on secondary processes and ion back flows, which are very important in the operation of some modern photosensitive detectors, including, for example, ALICE and COMPASS ring-imaging detectors.
There could be a few other improvements in a future edition. For instance, it would be useful to expand the description of the growing applications of gaseous detectors, especially resistive-plate chambers and micropattern detectors.
All in all, this is a highly recommendable book, which provides an interesting guided tour from the past to present day of gaseous detectors and the physics behind their operation.
