Operational performance of the Hall A mirror aerogel Cherenkov counter

We report the results of an operational test of the efficiency and position sensitivity of a silica-aerogel Cherenkov detector installed in the HRS-E spectrometer in Hall A at Jefferson Lab. The calibration was performed with data from elastic electron scattering from polarized He-3. The response of the photo-multiplier tubes was linearized with a quadratic correction, allowing a unique number of photo-electrons (PEs) to be extracted. The result obtained (similar to7.3 PEs) is consistent with the performance of the prototype detector tested earlier under ideal conditions. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.