Performance of position sensitive scintillator detectors when readout with a low noise photodevice

The technique of position sensitive scintillating bar detectors used as the building blocks of position sensitive planes offers the remarkable advantage of greatly reducing the number of readout electronic chains. A position sensitive bar is usually readout by two photo-detectors and, combining the two signals, energy and position of an interacting particle or gamma-ray can be evaluated. In this kind of detector the performances can suffer from the double readout that introduces the noise and uncertainty of two readout systems. The use of Silicon Drift Chamber as a photo-detector opens new perspectives in the design of scintillating bar detectors. In this case the high quantum efficiency of Si for light detection and the very low noise of the device practically cancel the disadvantages of a double readout system. In this work the results achieved stimulating with gamma rays of different energies scintillating bars with square cross section of 3 mm and various length from 15 cm to few cm, with double side Silicon Drift Chamber readout are presented and discussed. For these test an old scintillating material as CsI(Tl) has been chosen manly for its easy availability in different shapes and the good matching of the wavelength of its scintillation light with Si. The use of different materials is also discussed.