Drift tubes

A detection system comprising:

• a plurality of drift tubes, each of which comprises:
• a housing tube extending along a longitudinal axis and structured to include a first end, a second end, and an internal surface configured as a cathode;
• a first end cap hermetically engaged to and electrically isolated from the first end of the housing tube;
• a second end cap hermetically engaged to and electrically isolated from the second end of the housing tube;
• a detection gas enclosed inside the housing tube and configured for undergo ionization by charged particles;
• and
• an anode wire having two wire terminals engaged to the first end cap and the second end cap, respectively, so that the anode wire traverses the housing tube along the longitudinal axis, the anode wire being configured to detect the ionization that indicates a track of the charged particles inside the drift tube;
• a mounting framework to hold the plurality of drift tubes in a predefined spatial arrangement;
• and
• a data acquisition system operably coupled to the plurality of drift tubes for collecting and processing data from the drift tubes.