No Arabic abstract
A systematic study is performed to measure the ion backflow fraction of the GEM detectors. The effects of different voltage configurations and Ar/CO_2 gas mixtures, in ratios of 70:30, 80:20 and 90:10, on positive ion fraction are investigated in detail. Moreover, a comparative study is performed between single and quadruple GEM detectors.The ion current with detector effective gain is measured with various field configurations and with three proportions of gas mixtures. The ion backflow fraction for the GEM is substantially reduced with the lower drift field. A minimum ion backflow fraction of 18 % is achieved in the single GEM detector with Ar/CO_2 80:20 gas mixture, however, a minimum ion backflow fraction of 3.5 %, 3.0%, and 3.8 % are obtained for a drift field of 0.1kV/cm with Ar/CO_2 70:30, 80:20 and 90:10 gas mixtures, respectively for quadrupole GEM detector. Similar values of effective gain and ion backflow fraction have been found by calculating the current from pulse height spectrum method, obtained in the Multi Channel Analyser.
We report the status of R&D on large triple-GEM detectors for a forward tracker (FT) in an experiment at a future Electron Ion Collider (EIC) that will improve our understanding of QCD. We have designed a detector prototype specifically targeted for the EIC-FT, which has a trapezoidal shape with 30.1 degrees opening angle. We are investigating different detector assembly techniques and signal readout technologies, but have designed a common GEM foil to minimize NRE cost for foil production. The assembly techniques comprise either a purely mechanical method including foil stretching as pioneered by CMS but with certain modifications, or gluing foils to frames that are then assembled mechanically, or gluing foils to frames that are then glued together. The first two assembly techniques allow for re-opening chambers so that a GEM foil can be replaced if it is damaged. For readout technologies, we are pursuing a cost-effective one-dimensional readout with wide zigzag strips that maintains reasonable spatial resolution, as well two-dimensional readouts - one with stereo-angle (u-v) strips and another with r-phi strips. In addition, we aim at an overall low-mass detector design to facilitate good energy resolution for electrons scattered at low momenta. We present design for GEM foils and other detector parts, which we plan to entirely acquire from U.S. companies.
A picoammeter system has been developed and engineering. It consists in a current-voltage converter, based on an operational amplifier with very low input current, a high precision ADC, a radio controlled data acquisition unit and the computer-based control, visualization and storage. The precision is of the order of a tenth of picoampers and it can measure currents between electrodes at potentials up to 8 kV. The system is battery powered and a number of strategies have been implemented to limit the power consumption. The system is designed for multichannel applications, up to 256 parallel channels. The overall implementation is cost-effective to make the availability of multichannel setups easily affordable. The design, implementation and performance of the picoammeter system are described in detail as well as a an application: the measurement of ion backflow in MPGD-based photon detectors.
Electroluminescence produced during avalanche development in gaseous avalanche detectors is an useful information for triggering, calorimetry and tracking in gaseous detectors. Noble gases present high electroluminescence yields, emitting mainly in the VUV region. The photons can provide signal readout if appropriate photosensors are used. Micropattern gaseous detectors are good candidates for signal amplification in high background and/or low rate experiments due to their high electroluminescence yields and radiopurity. In this work, the VUV light responses of the Gas Electron Multiplier and of the Micro-Hole Strip Plate, working with pure xenon, are simulated and studied in detail using a new and versatile C++ toolkit. It is shown that the solid angle subtended by a photosensor placed below the microstructures depends on the operating conditions. The obtained absolute EL yields, determined for different gas pressures and as functions of the applied voltage, are compared with those determined experimentally.
The stability of triple GEM detector setups in an environment of high energetic showers is studied. To this end the spark probability in a shower environment is compared to the spark probability in a pion beam.
Many experiments are currently using or proposing to use large area GEM foils in their detectors, which is creating a need for commercially available GEM foils. Currently CERN is the only main distributor of large GEM foils, however with the growing interest in GEM technology keeping up with the increasing demand for GEMs will be difficult. Thus the commercialization of GEMs up to 50 $times$ 50 cm$^2$ has been established by Tech-Etch Inc. of Plymouth, MA, USA using the single-mask technique. The electrical performance and optical quality of the single-mask GEM foils have been found to be on par with those produced by CERN. The next critical step towards validating the Tech-Etch single-mask GEM foils is to test their performance under physics conditions. These measurements will allow us to quantify and compare the gain and efficiency of the detector to other triple-GEM detectors. This will be done by constructing several single-mask triple-GEM detectors, using foils manufactured by Tech-Etch, which follow the design used by the STAR Forward GEM Tracker (FGT). These detectors will investigate ways in which to further decrease the material budget and increase the efficiency of the detector by incorporating perforated Kapton spacer rings rather than G10 spacing grids to reduce the dead area of the detector. The materials and tooling needed to assemble the triple-GEM detectors have been acquired. The GEM foils have been electrically tested, and a handful have been optically scanned. We found these results to be consistent with GEM foils produced by CERN. With the success of these initial tests, construction of the triple-GEM detectors is now under way.