SMP-1 SCANNING AND MEASURING PROJECTOR

An instrument for scanning and measuring bubble chamber film, the SMP (described at the 1960 conference on high-speed film measuring devices), was built and tested. The design of this prototype is described, and a proposal is presented for a data analysis system that would use several SMP's connected on- line to a high-speed computer. The prototype has several features, that were developed since the Brookhaven Conference, that simplified its operation. Tests of the prototype connected to an IBM 709 computer demonstrated the feasibility of this mode of operation, showed that the instrument is capable of detecting bubbles even on low-quality film, and showed the measurement accuracy to be l mu in determining the position of a fine wire and 6 mu in determining the location of a 6-mm-long segment of a bubble charaber track whose bubbles are 30 mu in diameter. The organization of a computer program is described that is capable of ingesting, checking, and analyzing the data from at least three SMP's simultaneously operating on-line to an lBM 709 computer. (auth)