The Thick Gas Electron Multiplier and its derivatives: Physics, technologies and applications

Towards a large-area RPWELL detector: design optimization and performance

“…Four 25 × 25 cm 2 Fe-doped glass tiles (bulk resistivity of 2 × 10 9 Ωcm) were used to comprise the resistive plate. The THWELL electrode was produced by Eltos2 with cleaning post-treatment at the CERN micro-pattern technologies laboratory [7]. In view of potential usage as DHCAL sampling elements [11][12][13], 0.4 mm thick electrode perforated with 0.5 mm diameter holes and 0.1 mm rim etched around them was used.…”

“…The Thick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (THGEM) [3] technology and its derivatives are attractive for various applications requiring cost-effective solutions for large-area coverage; they provide high detection efficiency at irradiation flux up to 10 4 Hz/cm 2 [4] at moderate energy resolution (of the order of 20% FWHM, measured with a 5.9 keV mono-energetic X-ray source), position resolution (at the level of 300 μm [5]) and time resolution (about 10 ns for MIPs [6]). For a recent review on THGEM detectors see [7].…”

Cryogenic RPWELL: a novel charge-readout element for dual-phase argon TPCs

“…In recent years, the Thick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (THGEM) has become a well-established gaseous radiation detector [1][2][3]. The possibility to use it for amplifying ionization charges in a gas medium at different pressures and temperatures, its robustness, and its low cost turned this detector into a favorable option for several experiments requiring large area coverage at modest spatial and energy resolutions.…”

“…Some examples are: Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detectors [4][5][6], digital hadronic calorimetry (DHCAL) [7,8], rare events searches [9][10][11][12] and civil [13,14] and medical applications [15,16]. For a recent review on THGEM detectors see [3]. Amongst the THGEM derivatives, the Resistive-Plate WELL (RPWELL) [17] was studied at room temperature, mostly for sampling elements in Digital Hadronic Calorimetry (DHCAL) [18][19][20], due to its high gain and protection against discharges (or: discharge-quenching properties).…”

Novel resistive charge-multipliers for dual-phase LAr-TPCs: towards stable operation at higher gains

“…The possibility of enhancing the ionization signal through charge multiplication would allow a direct increase of signal-to-noise (𝑆/𝑁) compared to charge-collection in liquid phase, thus reducting the detection energy threshold. In light of this, we propose to embed discharge-mitigating resistive materials into the detector assemblies based on Thick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (THGEM)-like concepts [15][16][17][18] in order to enhance gain and electrical stability. Following the considerable experience gained from operation at room temperature, we opted for the Resistive WELL (RWELL) [19] and the Resistive Plate WELL (RPWELL) [20]; they resort, respectively, to a resistive film deposited on an insulator and to a resistive plate, directly coupled to a THGEM electrode in both cases (figure 1-left).…”