The multiwire proportional chamber for the coded-aperture telescope ART-P (The Granat astrophysical observatory)

The paper describes the laboratory prototype of the two-layer position-sensitive multiwire proportional chamber (MPC) designed for the ART-P X-ray coded-aperture telescope in the 4-100 keV energy range (to be flown on the Granat observatory). The design of the MPC is described, and attention is given to the electronic hardware for the extraction of signals from the chamber and for the acccumulation and processing of experimental data. The first experimental results on the energy and spatial resolution of the MPC obtained with the Cd-109 and Am-241 radioactive isotopes are presented.