EDIT 2015

In beam studies of the Resistive-Plate WELL gaseous multiplier

Not scheduled

20m

INFN - Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati

Speaker

Mr Luca Moleri (Weizmann Institute)

Description

We present the results of the first in beam studies of medium size (100 × 100 mm^2) Resistive-Plate WELL (RPWELL): a single-faced THGEM coupled to a copper anode through a resistive layer of high bulk resistivity (∼10^9 Ωcm). The 6.2 mm thick configuration (excluding readout electronics) was studied with relativistic muons and pions in CERN-SPS test beam. The signal was read out through 10 × 10 mm^2 square copper pads with an APV25-SRS electronics. The detector was operated in Ne/(5%CH4) gas mixture and reached a detection efficiency of 99% at average pad multiplicity as low as 1.2. Operation at particle fluxes up to ~10^5 Hz/cm2 resulted in 30% gain drop and a 0.8% efficiency drop that could be restored by small increase of the THGEM voltage. The striking feature of this detector is being completely discharge-free (discharge probability < 10−8 in high rate pion beam). These results show that the detector is an excellent choice for applications that require cost-effective solutions for radiation detection at moderate spatial and energy resolutions.