Investigation of the energy resolution with a RETGEM detector

A novel Micro-pattern gaseous detector （MPGD）, thick GEM with electrodes made of a resistive material （RETGEM） is presented. In this paper we mainly investigate the energy resolution of a RETGEM in Ar＋CO2 with different gas mixtures. The results indicate that an energy resolution 30% in single and double mode can be obtained. The existence of an optimum energy resolution is discussed.     

Performances of RETGEM with resistive electrodes made of kapton foils

THGEM with resistive Kapton electrodes (RETGEM) has been developed to make the THGEM more tolerant to discharges. At higher gains with resistive electrodes, serious discharges may travel to the streamer mode, in contrast to violent sparks in conventional GEMs. These streamers are mild and less dangerous to the detector and the front-end electronics. RETGEM looks very promising, and its basic properties are being studied. Recently we developed and tested the THGEM with electrodes using 20 um thick resistive kapton foils. The new RETGEM performs at a lower discharge current, has a lower discharge probability, and has a good energy resolution of 27% and a high effective gas gain and long-term stability.     

高通量下GEM探测器高压供电模式研究

GEM探测器的供电一般采用电阻链分压供电模式和多路分立供电模式,在低通量X射线下测量时区别不大,但是在高通量X射线时,电阻链分压供电模式会带来饱和效应引起工作电压的变化,造成探测器工作不稳定。本研究在高通量X 射线照射下,研究了有效面积为100 mm100 mm三层级联GEM探测器的有效增益(稳定性) 与不同高压供电模式的关系。通过测量不同分压电阻值(1, 2, 5 到30 MΩ)的实验研究,发现随着X 射线通量的增加,在电阻链分压供电模式下,出现了GEM探测器感应电极的读出电流饱和趋势,分析了可能导致饱和效应出现的原因。结果表明,当入射X射线在探测器上的有效吸收剂量不断增加时,电阻链供电模式需要调整分压单元电阻值,或者采用多路分立供电模式,从而避免因饱和效应引起的GEM探测器有效增益的变化,实现探测器稳定的工作状态。There are two methods of the HV power supply for the GEM detector. One is a HV channel divided by the resistive chain and the other is the several separate HV channels. In the smaller dose rate of X-ray, all of the methods are similar. When the dose rate increases, the resistive chain-dividing mode has more obvious saturation effect and the working voltage of the GEM detector is unstable. In the paper, a GEM detector with an effective area of 100 mm100 mm has been studied in the high dose rate using X-tube. The unit values in the divider resistance chain are set to 1, 2, 5 and 30 MΩ respectively in the test. With the resistive chain-dividing mode, the readout current of the GEM detector’s anode tends to saturate when the dose rate of X-ray increases,and the reasons of the saturation effect are analyzed. The results indicate that the effective absorbed dose of X-ray by the triple GEMs detector reaches to the pecific value and the divider resistance needs to re-select, even the several separate HV channels mode should be considered. It will keep the constant of the working voltage of the GEM detector without the saturation effect and gain variation and the performance of GEM detector is stable.     

Study of 2D interpolating readout for a micro-pattern gaseous detector

The two-dimensional interpolating readout, a new readout concept based on resistive anode structure, was studied for the micro-pattern gaseous detector. Within its high spatial resolution, the interpolating resistive readout structure leads to an enormous reduction of electronic channels compared with pure pixel devices, and also makes the detector more reliable and robust, which is attributed to its resistive anode relieving discharge. A GEM (gaseous electron multiplier) detector with 2D interpolating resistive readout structure was set up and the performance of the detector was studied with 55Fe 5.9 keV X-ray. The detector worked stably at the gain up to 3.5 × 104 without any discharge. An energy resolution of about 19%, and a spatial resolution of about 219 μm (FWHM) were reached, and good imaging performance was also obtained.     

A simulation study of the e+/e－ sensitivity of a low resistive phosphate glasselectrode in a RPC using GEANT MC

The resistivity of conventional glass is quite high and is unacceptable in a high rate environment. Low resistive glass-electrodes could be a solution for this problem. The present study reports the e^＋/e^- simulation results of an RPC detector made from low resistive phosphate glass electrodes. The detailed geometrical configuration of the content materials which are the essential components of the glass of the RPC detector have been created with the GEANT4 simulation code. Two different types of particle sources, i.e. for e^＋/e^- , have been located on the detectors surface to evaluate the performance of the phosphate glass RPC. Both of the particles have been simulated as a function of their respective energies in the range of 0.1 MeV 1.0 GeV. The present simulation work has shown that the resistive electrode plays an important role for the particle production in the RPC configuration.     

Beam test of signal cross-talk and transmission for LMPRC

A new prototype of large area Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) with long readout strips was built. This Long-strip Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (LMRPC) is double stacked and has ten 250 μm-thick gas gaps. Signals are read out from the two ends of each strip with an active area of 50 cm×2.5 cm in each. The detector was tested at FOPI in GSI, using the secondary particles of proton beams (E=3.5 GeV) colliding with a Pb target. The results show that the LMRPC prototype has a time resolution of about 60-70 ps; the detecting efficiency is over 98% and the ratio of cross-talk is lower than 2%. The detector also has a good spatial resolution of 0.36 cm along the strip direction.     

A simulation study of the e~+/e~- sensitivity of a low resistive phosphate glass electrode in a RPC using GEANT MC

The resistivity of conventional glass is quite high and is unacceptable in a high rate environment. Low resistive glass-electrodes could be a solution for this problem. The present study reports the e+/e-simulation results of an RPC detector made from low resistive phosphate glass electrodes. The detailed geometrical configuration of the content materials which are the essential components of the glass of the RPC detector have been created with the GEANT4 simulation code. Two different types of particle sources, i.e. for e+/e-, have been located on the detectors surface to evaluate the performance of the phosphate glass RPC. Both of the particles have been simulated as a function of their respective energies in the range of 0.1 MeV – 1.0 GeV. The present simulation work has shown that the resistive electrode plays an important role for the particle production in the RPC configuration.     

A cosmic ray test platform based on high time resolution MRPC technology

In order to test the performance of detector prototypes in a laboratory environment, we design and build a large area (90 cm×52 cm) test platform for cosmic rays based on a well-designed Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber (MRPC) with excellent time resolution and a high detection efficiency for minimum ionizing particles. The time resolution of the MRPC module used is tested to be ～80 ps, and the position resolution along the strip is ～5 mm, while the position resolution perpendicular to the strip is ～12.7 mm. The platform constructed by four MRPC modules can be used for tracking cosmic rays with a spatial resolution of ～6.3 mm, and provide a reference time ～40 ps.     

Performance testing of a long-strip two-end readout multi-gap resistive plate chamber

Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber （MRPC） is a new generation of gas detector with good timing and spacial resolution, whose technique is widely applied in some recent high energy （nuclear） physics experiments. In this letter, we report a long-strip two-end readout MRPC and its test beam performance. The measurements show that the long-strip performs a transmission line characteristic and the impedance is independent of the length of strip. The MRPC module we developed is presented to gain a timing resolution of -80 ps and a spacial resolution of -6.4 mm. The possible application of the MRPC is also discussed.     

A large-area GEM detector using a novel self-stretching technique

A Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector with an effective area of 300 mm×300 mm has been constructed using a novel self-stretching technique, which allows a highly flexible and efficient GEM detector assembly free of glue or spacers. This makes the re-opening and repair of the GEM detectors possible and significantly reduces the scrap rate in the mass production of large-area GEM detectors. With the technique, the assembly time can be limited to a few hours, a factor of ten improvement compared to that using gluing techniques. The details of design and assembly procedure of the 300 mm×300 mm GEM detector are described in this paper. This detector was tested with 8 keV X-rays for the effective gain, energy resolution and performance uniformity. The results show that the typical energy resolution is 20% at an effective gain of about 10^4, with fairly good uniformity.     

Investigation of the energy resolution with a RETGEM detector

A novel Micro-pattern gaseous detector (MPGD), thick GEM with electrodes made of a resistive material (RETGEM) is presented. In this paper we mainly investigate the energy resolution of a RETGEM in Ar+CO_2 with different gas mixtures. The results indicate that an energy resolution 30% in single and double mode can be obtained. The existence of an optimum energy resolution is discussed.     

Thick GEM with a resistive coating

The results of testing a detector based on a thick gas electron multiplier (GEM) are presented. Impact of the TGEM dielectric charging on detector physical parameters is assessed based on simulation and experimental results. The further development of the detector—TGEM with resistive coating was constructed and tested. The test results are presented and compared to a standard thick GEM.     

基于阻性阳极读出方法的气体电子倍增器二维成像性能

新型微结构气体探测器,如气体电子倍增器(gas electron multiplier,GEM)等,具有非常好的位置分辨率潜力(σ100μm),但是需要匹配大规模高密度的读出电子学,给探测器的建设、造价、功耗、空间利用等带来极大压力.阻性阳极读出方法可以在保持较高位置分辨率的前提下,大幅节省电子学.基于厚膜电阻工艺,一种新的阻性单元阵列结构被成功开发和应用于三级级联GEM探测器的读出阳极.该阻性阳极包括6×6个6 mm×6 mm的基本阻性单元,仅需匹配49路读出电子学.~(55)Fe放射源(5.9 keV)和X光机(8 keV)实验的结果显示探测器的位置分辨率(σ)可好于80μm,位置非线性好于1.5%.同时,探测器还获得了很好的实物成像效果.探测器的优良性能表明这种阻性阳极读出方法适用于大面积二维成像气体探测器的读出,并可用于其他探测器的读出.     

A simulation study of the e~+/e~- sensitivity of a low resistive phosphate glass electrode in a RPC using GEANT MC

The resistivity of conventional glass is quite high and is unacceptable in a high rate environment. Low resistive glass-electrodes could be a solution for this problem. The present study reports the e+/e-simulation results of an RPC detector made from low resistive phosphate glass electrodes. The detailed geometrical configuration of the content materials which are the essential components of the glass of the RPC detector have been created with the GEANT4 simulation code. Two different types of particle sou...     

CEE-TPC中GEM读出探测器传输性能实验研究

气体电子倍增器(GEM)因其具有较好的位置分辨以及各项同性的二维结构等优点,近年来受到了广泛的关注,在HIRFL-CSR上正在建设的低温高密核物质测量谱仪(CEE)也计划使用GEM作为TPC的读出探测器。不同电场条件下GEM探测器的传输特性对探测器的有效增益及能量分辨有较大影响。文中研究了单层GEM探测器中漂移区电场及感应区电场对探测器传输特性的影响;随后研究了双层GEM探测器的电压分配及传输区电场对探测器电荷传输性能的影响。结果表明,在单层及多层GEM探测器中,漂移区电场、传输区电场及感应区电场主要通过改变电子透过率和GEM雪崩电场强度及分布影响探测器的电荷传输性能,进而影响探测器的有效增益及能量分辨。以上实验结果表明GEM探测器是CEE-TPC读出探测器的理想选择,同时测试结果也为TPC中多层级联GEM工作点的选择提供了参考依据。     

基于复合结构的气体电子倍增器增益模拟和实验研究

气体电子倍增器(GEM)作为高性能的微结构气体探测器在高能物理相关领域内得到了广泛的研究和应用.其中增益是GEM探测器基本性能研究中的一个重要参数,该值的精确测量至关重要.增益的测量一般采用电流测量或者能谱测量方法,但均存在精度较低或者过程繁琐的问题,且无法精确测量低增益值.针对GEM探测器增益的精确测量,本文提出了一种由GEM探测器与微网结构气体探测器(MM)级联构成的复合结构探测器(GEM-MM).利用GEM-MM结构以相对方法实现GEM增益的精确测量.该方法既可以省去传统方法中复杂的电子学标定过程,同时不需要进行原初电离电子数的估算,保证了增益的精确测量,并且可以实现GEM低增益的测量.基于GEM-MM测量GEM增益的原理,本文首先对GEM-MM电荷输运过程进行了模拟研究,优化了合适的工作电压.比较了三种不同类型和配比工作气体下GEM增益模拟结果,并在Ar/iC_4H_(10)(95/5)气体中测量了单层GEM在3—24范围内的有效增益.不同Penning系数下GEM增益的模拟结果表明,Penning系数为0.32时GEM增益的模拟结果与实验测量结果符合得很好.由此可以确定一个大气压下的Ar/iC_4H_(10)(95/5)气体中,Penning系数为0.32±0.01.     

三级GEM探测器的增益一致性实验研究

随着二维GEM气体探测器在X射线成像探测领域的应用, 三级GEM的探测结构和电场均匀性带来的增益一致性修正问题, 成为需要深入研究的课题内容。 介绍了有效探测面积为100 mm×100 mm的三级倍增GEM探测器, 共采用100路阵列读出, 每路读出Pad面积为9.5 mm×9.5 mm。 测量了55Fe放射源准直入射的全能峰谱。 实验表明, 随着时间的变化, 探测器的增益基本上保持稳定; 随气流的增大, 增益由变化明显到变化不大。 GEM探测器各个阵列单元的增益一致性良好（>80%）; 能量分辨率在0.18～0.22之间, 运用最小二乘法拟合给出增益一致性的修正结果, 修正后相差约0.1, 为GEM气体探测器的增益一致性修正方法提供了参考方案。 With the application of the two dimensional GEM gaseous detector in X ray imaging, the correction method of gain uniformity caused by triple GEM avalanche structures and electric field uniformity should be studied. The paper reported the study of the triple GEM detector with effective area 100 mm×100 mm used the Pad’s size of 9.5 mm×9.5 mm. In the test, 100 readout channels were designed. Results showed that gain remained stable over time; as air flow increases, gain from increases obviously to changes very little. Particularly, triple GEM’s gain uniformity was very good (more than 80%) and the range of energy resolution was from 0.18 to 0.22. To improve gain consistency of results, the difference value revised was obtained to be about 0.1 by the least square method. It provided a better method to improve gain uniformity of GEM detector.