Analysis and Selection of Materials for the COMPASS DC56 Drift Chamber Prototypes

The development of two new large area drift chambers is necessary to replace the current failing straw chambers at the COMPASS spectrometer at the M2 beam line of the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN, whose purpose is to measure single transverse spin asymmetries in pion-induced Drell-Yan productions. In order to build drift chambers that can operate in the expected high background environment, the materials used in the detector must be studied and chosen carefully. A prototype detector was designed and constructed. Results from the detector material studies and the prototype tests will be presented.