High-precision X-ray tomograph for quality control of the ATLAS muon monitored drift chambers

For the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), ATLAS, a large general-purpose detecto r for physics experiment, is under construction. The muon spectrometer of A TLAS is on the scale of a very large industrial project: 1200 large monitor ed drift tubes (MDT) chambers will be built aiming at an exceptional qualit y in terms of mechanical accuracy, material reliability, assembly, and moni toring. For quality control, an X-ray tomograph, monitored by a set of inte rferometers, has been developed and built at CERN. The tomograph provides a n accuracy below 10 mu m in the determination of the position of each MDT d rift tube. First results have been obtained on MDT prototypes. (C) 1998 Els evier Science B.V. All rights reserved.