A Cherenkov Radiation Detector with High Density Aerogels

We have designed a threshold Cherenkov detector at the Rutherford-Appleton Laboratory to identify muons with momenta between 230 and 350 MeV/c. We investigated the properties of three aerogels for the design. The nominal indexes of refraction were n = 1.03, 1.07, 1.12, respectively. Two of the samples are of high density aerogel not commonly used for Cherenkov light detection. We present results of an examination of some optical properties of the aerogel samples and present basic test beam results.