With future experiments proposing detectors that utilize very large-area GEM foils, there is a need for commercially available GEM foils. Double-mask etching techniques pose a clear limitation in the maximum size of GEM foils. In contrast, single-mas
k techniques developed at CERN would allow one to overcome those limitations. However with interest in GEM foils increasing and CERN being the only main distributor, keeping up with the demand for GEM foils will be difficult. Thus the commercialization of GEMs has been established by Tech-Etch of Plymouth, MA, USA using single-mask techniques. We report on the electrical and geometrical properties, along with the inner and outer hole diameter size uniformity of 10 $times$ 10 cm$^2$ and 40$times$40 cm$^2$ GEM foils. The Tech-Etch foils were found to have excellent electrical properties. The measured mean optical properties were found to reflect the desired parameters and are consistent with those measured in double-mask GEM foils, and show good hole diameter uniformity over the active area. These foils are well suited for future applications in nuclear and particle physics where tracking devices are needed.
The recently completed Forward GEM Tracker (FGT) of the STAR experiment at RHIC took advantage of commercially produced GEM foils based on double-mask chemical etching techniques. With future experiments proposing detectors that utilize very large-ar
ea GEM foils, there is a need for commercially available GEM foils. Double-mask etching techniques pose a clear limitation in the maximum size. In contrast, single-mask techniques developed at CERN would allow one to overcome those limitations. We report on results obtained using 10 $times$ 10 cm$^2$ and 40$times$40 cm$^2$ GEM foils produced by Tech-Etch Inc. of Plymouth, MA, USA using single-mask techniques and thus the beginning for large GEM foil production on a commercial basis. A quality assurance procedure has been established through electrical and optical analyses via leakage current measurements and an automated high-resolution CCD scanner. The Tech-Etch foils show excellent electrical properties with leakage currents typically measured below 1 nA. The geometrical properties of the Tech-Etch single-mask foils were found to be consistent with one another, and were in line with geometrical specifications from previously measured double-mask foils. The single-mask foils displayed good inner and outer hole diameter uniformities over the entire active area.
We have performed precision measurements of the double-spin virtual-photon asymmetry $A_1$ on the neutron in the deep inelastic scattering regime, using an open-geometry, large-acceptance spectrometer. Our data cover a wide kinematic range $0.277 leq
x leq 0.548$ at an average $Q^2$ value of 3.078~(GeV/c)$^2$, doubling the available high-precision neutron data in this $x$ range. We have combined our results with world data on proton targets to extract the ratio of polarized-to-unpolarized parton distribution functions for up quarks and for down quarks in the same kinematic range. Our data are consistent with a previous observation of an $A_1^n$ zero crossing near $x=0.5$. We find no evidence of a transition to a positive slope in $(Delta d + Delta bar{d})/(d + bar{d})$ up to $x=0.548$.
Double-spin asymmetries and absolute cross sections were measured at large Bjorken $x$ (0.25 $ le x le $ 0.90), in both the deep-inelastic and resonance regions, by scattering longitudinally polarized electrons at beam energies of 4.7 and 5.9 GeV fro
m a transversely and longitudinally polarized $^3$He target. In this dedicated experiment, the spin structure function $g_2$ on $^3$He was determined with precision at large $x$, and the neutron twist-three matrix element $d_2^n$ was measured at $left< Q^2right>$ of 3.21 and 4.32 GeV$^2$/$c^2$, with an absolute precision of about $10^{-5}$. Our results are found to be in agreement with lattice QCD calculations and resolve the disagreement found with previous data at $left< Q^2right> =$ 5 GeV$^2$/$c^2$. Combining $d_2^n$ and a newly extracted twist-four matrix element, $f_2^n$, the average neutron color electric and magnetic forces were extracted and found to be of opposite sign and about 30 MeV/fm in magnitude.
