Wire chamber

Adaptations of this basic design are the thin gap, resistive plate and drift chambers.

[3][4] In 1968, Georges Charpak, while at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), invented and developed the multi-wire proportional chamber (MWPC).

The MWPC produced electronic signals from particle detection, allowing scientists to examine data via computers.

As in the Geiger counter, a particle leaves a trace of ions and electrons, which drift toward the case or the nearest wire, respectively.

[13] Design is similar to the multi-wire proportional chamber but with a greater distance between central-layer wires.

[14] The Fermilab detector CDF II contains a drift chamber called the Central Outer Tracker.

A wire chamber with anode wires (W) and cathode (−) plates (P). The particles travelling along trajectory T will ionize gas to produce ion pairs with free electrons which are multiplied by the Townsend avalanche effect at the anode wires to produce measurable current pulses.
Equipotential line and field line in a MWPC