The Resistive-Plate WELL with Argon mixtures – A robust gaseous radiation detector

Abstract

A thin single-element THGEM-based, Resistive-Plate WELL (RPWELL) detector was operated with 150 GeV/c muon and pion beams in Ne/(5%CH 4 ), Ar/(5%CH 4 ) and Ar/(7%CO 2 ); signals were recorded with 1 cm 2 square pads and SRS/APV25 electronics. Detection efficiency values greater than 98% were reached in all the gas mixtures, at average pad multiplicity of 1.2. The use of the 10 9 Ωcm resistive plate resulted in a completely discharge-free operation also in intense pion beams. The efficiency remained essentially constant at 98-99% up to fluxes of ∼10 4 Hz/cm 2 , dropping by a few % when approaching 10 5 Hz/cm 2 . These results pave the way towards cost-effective, robust, efficient, large-scale detectors for a variety of applications in future particle, astro-particle and applied fields. A potential target application is digital hadron calorimetry.

In-beam evaluation of a medium-size Resistive-Plate WELL gaseous particle detector

“…Extensive laboratory studies of small RPWELL detector prototypes operated in Ne/(5%CH 4 ) [1] have been performed; they were followed by larger (10 × 10 cm 2 ) detector investigations, with pad readout, in muon and pion beams. These were operated in Ne/(5%CH 4 ) [4], and in Ar/(5%CH 4 ) and Ar/(7%CO 2 ) [5]. These and other studies of THGEMlike detectors (summarized in [6]), aimed at validating the potential applicability of the RPWELL as sampling element in digital hadron calorimetry (DHCAL).…”

First results of Resistive-Plate Well (RPWELL) detector operation at 163 K

“…The resistive plates currently used for RT operation are Semitron ESD 225, which is an acetalbased, static dissipative plastic with ρ ∼10 9 Ω·cm) (Quadrant Plastics, USA) and Low Resistive Silicate (LRS) glass with ρ ∼2 × 10 10 Ω·cm (Tsinghua University, Beijing, China). Both Semitron and LRS glass quench discharges effectively at RT, as demonstrated in laboratory and accelerator experiments with RPWELL detectors operated at gains of a few times 10 4 , in different gas mixtures and in high-rate radiation environments [25,26,28]. The measurement of resistivity as a function of temperature performed with Semitron and LRS glass indicated an Arrhenius behavior, i.e.…”

Novel Resistive-Plate WELL sampling element for (S)DHCAL

“…Past laboratory and accelerator studies have been performed with moderate-size prototypes, with 1 cm 2 square pads and SRS/APV25 readout electronics. They operated equally well in Ne-and Ar-based gas mixtures [15] and in intense hadronic beams. The figure of merit is MIP detection efficiency ≥ 98% at ≤ 1.2 pad multiplicity ( Fig.…”

“…MIP detection efficiency as a function of average pad multiplicity measured with a 10 cm 2 RPWELL prototype in Ne-and Ar-based gas mixtures. Figure taken from[15].…”