High-speed particle tracking in nuclear emulsion by last-generation automatic microscopes

The technique of nuclear emulsions for high-energy physics experiments is being revived, thanks to the remarkable progress in measurement automation achieved in the past years. The present paper describes the features and performances of the European Scanning System, a last-generation automatic microscope working at a scanning speed of 20cm2/h. The system has been developed in the framework of the OPERA experiment, designed to unambigously detect νμ→ντ oscillations in nuclear emulsions.