The ICARUS 50 l LAr TPC in the CERN Nu Beam

Abstract

The 50 liter liquid Argon TPC is a detector built and successfully operated at CERN for R&D purposes within the ICARUS programme. In the year 1997 it has been exposed at the CERN neutrino beam for the entire SPS neutrino run period as proposed and approved at the SPSLC of January 1997. The detector, complemented with scintillators acting as veto, trigger counters and pre-shower counters, was installed in front of the NOMAD detector. The year 1997 was scheduled to be the last for the operation of the West Area Neutrino Facility. It was important to take this last opportunity for a parasitic exposure, which did not interfere with running experiments, of an already existing and operating liquid Argon TPC. As we had expected, the collected data brought important information for a better understanding of the performance of liquid Argon TPC's which should be useful for the entire ICARUS program.