Micro Drift Chamber as a high resolution vertex detector for the DIRAC experiment

A possible implementation of the Micro Drift Chamber (MDC) technique as a high resolution vertex detector in the upstream part of the DIRAC spectrometer was investigated in this paper. Simulations of different MDC layout were performed with the help of GARFIELD package. Based on the results of simulation the optimal chamber geometry and the gas mixture were selected. One cell prototype was produced and its characteristics were measured at different particle fluxes, various gas pressures and thresholds of electronics. Data observed together with expected coordinate resolution of MDC allow to employ such detector in different field of application including the DIRAC experiment.