The Main Injector Neutrino Oscillation Search (MINOS) experiment uses an acceleratorproduced neutrino beam to perform precision measurements of the neutrino oscillation parameters in the "atmospheric neutrino" sector associated with muon neutrino disappearance. This long-baseline experiment measures neutrino interactions in Fermilab's NuMI neutrino beam with a near detector at Fermilab and again 735 km downstream with a far detector in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota. The two detectors are magnetized steel-scintillator tracking calorimeters. They are designed to be as similar as possible in order to ensure that differences in detector response have minimal impact on the comparisons of event rates, energy spectra and topologies that are essential to MINOS measurements of oscillation parameters. The design, construction, calibration and performance of the far and near detectors are described in this paper.

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We present the first direct experimental evidence for the charge excess in high-energy particle showers and corresponding radio emission predicted nearly 40 years ago by Askaryan. We directed picosecond pulses of GeV bremsstrahlung photons at the SLAC Final Focus Test Beam into a 3.5 ton silica sand target, producing electromagnetic showers several meters long. A series of antennas spanning 0.3 to 6 GHz detected strong, subnanosecond radio-frequency pulses produced by the showers. Measurements of the polarization, coherence, timing, field strength vs shower depth, and field strength vs frequency are completely consistent with predictions. These measurements thus provide strong support for experiments designed to detect high-energy cosmic rays such as neutrinos via coherent radio emission from their cascades.

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We have measured the wake fields induced by short, intense relativistic electron bunches in a slowwave structure consisting of a dielectric-lined tube, as a test of the dielectric wake-field acceleration mechanism. These fields were used to accelerate a second electron bunch which followed the driving bunch at a variable distance. Results are presented for different dielectrics and beam intensities, and are compared with theoretical predictions.PACS numbers: 52.75.Di