Energy resolution of gas ionization chamber for high-energy heavy ions

The energy resolution is reported for high-energy heavy ions with energies of nearly 340 MeV/nucleon and was measured using a gas ionization chamber filled with a 90%Ar/10%CH4 gas mixture. We observed that the energy resolution is proportional to the inverse of the atomic number of incident ions and to the inverse-square-root of the gas thickness. These results are consistent with the Bethe-Bloch formula for the energy loss of charged particles and the Bohr expression for heavy ion energy straggling. In addition, the influence of high-energy δ-rays generated in the detector on the energy deposition is discussed.