Status of the Belle silicon vertex detector

The old silicon vertex detector (SVD1) of the Belle detector, operating at the high-luminosity asymmetric energy e+e− collider KEKB, was replaced by an upgraded version (SVD2) in 2003. The new detector has modified geometry and redesigned readout electronics, providing a larger polar angle acceptance, better vertex resolution, improved radiation hardness and reduced dead time. The operation of the detector started successfully in October 2003. The basic concepts of the SVD2 design as well as its performance after 10 months of data taking are described in this paper.