The Mark III vertex chamber

The design and construction of the new Mark III vertex chamber is described. Initial tests with cosmic rays prove the ability of track reconstruction and yield triplet resolutions below 50 ..mu..m at 3 atm using argon/ethane (50:50). Also performed are studies using a prototype of a pressurized wire vertex chamber with 8 mm diameter straw geometry. Spatial resolution of 35mm was obtained using dimethyl ether (DME) at 1 atm and 30 ..mu..m using argon/ethane (50/50 mixture) at 4 atm. Preliminary studies indicate the DME to adversely affect such materials as aluminized Mylar and Delrin.