The large size straw drift chambers of the COMPASS experiment

Straw drift chambers are used for the Large Area Tracking (LAT) of the Common Muon and Proton Apparatus for Structure and Spectroscopy (COMPASS) at CERN. An active area of 130 m2 in total is covered by 12 440 straw tubes, which are arranged in 15 double layers. The design has been optimized with respect to spatial resolution, rate capability, low material budget and compactness of the detectors. Mechanical and electrical design considerations of the chambers are discussed as well as new production techniques. The mechanical precision of the chambers has been determined using a CCD X-ray scanning apparatus. Results about the performance during data taking in COMPASS are described.