Experimentelle Untersuchung von Elektronen-Photonen-Kaskaden in Blei-Szintillator-Anordnungen für Primärenergien zwischen 100 und 440 MeV

Showers generated by electrons of 200 and 440 MeV energy in single lead plates of 2, 5, and 10 radiation lengths are measured in scintillator material (NE 102 A) varying between 1.24 and 10.5 g/cm². The mean energy deposited in a scintillator is derived fromNagel's Monte-Carlo calculations. The photon contributionn _γ to the total pulseheight is of the order 15% near shower maximum t_max, it dominates the electron contributionn _e in a 3 cm thick scintillator for shower depthst ≧ 4.2 · t_max. The slope of the total ionizationn _e+n _γ behind the shower maximum can be approximated byn(t) ～ exp(?0.264t). The shower absorption in scintillator depends on the thicknessx (g/cm²) as exp (?0.068x). An arrangement of counter trays, scintillators and lead plates is calibrated with electrons between 100 and 440 MeV energy. A suitably defined track-lengthS is shown to give minimum error in energy measurement and to depend linearly on electron energy. The track-length constant of 22 MeV/r.l. is compared with the results of other authors.