The MDC's main purpose is to measure the momentum and energy loss per unit distance (dE/dx) from charged particles.
The chamber is 2.4 meters long and contains 6796 gold coated 25-micron tungsten signal wires that are arranged in 44 cylindrical layers.
Between the wires, a mixture of Helium and Propane gas are mixed together at a ratio of 60/40, designed to minimize multiple scattering and maintain a high dE/dx.
The TOF, the second inner detector, makes time measurements that are used to assist in particle identification and as a fast trigger to reject cosmic rays.
The electromagnetic calorimeter's main purpose is to make energy and position measurements using Caesium Iodide scintillating crystals.
The muon identifier (MI) is composed of nine layers of Iron absorbers and resistive plate counters (RPC).