Resistive Gaseous Detectors

Marcello Abbrescia is professor at the Bari University, Italy, and associate researcher for the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics. Since the beginning of his scientific career he has been working on gaseous detectors and specifically Resistive Plate Chambers. He is member of the CMS collaboration at CERN, where he contributed to design and build the CMS/RPC system, being also responsible for its upgrade toward the High Luminosity phase of LHC. He developed one of the first models describing RPC behavior, and lead researches on RPC for applications in humanitarian demining. He is also coordinator of the Extreme Energy Events collaboration, and author or co-author of more than 700 papers on particle physics or instrumentation for particle physics. Vladimir Peskov is chief scientist at the Institute for Chemical Physics Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS). Having obtained his academic degrees from the Institute of Physical Problems RAS in Moscow, he worked in the Physics Laboratory RAS led by P.L. Kapitza where he discovered and studied a new type of plasma instability. In 1986 he obtained an Associate Scientist position at CERN in G. Charpak's group and later spent most of his career working at various Scientific Institutions (CERN, Fermi National Laboratory, NASA and the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden) on the instrumentation for high energy physics, astrophysics and medicine. He is author or co-author of more than 200 publications, three scientific books and twelve international patents. Paulo Fonte is professor at the Institute of Engineering of the Polytechnic Institute of Coimbra and senior researcher at the Laboratory for Instrumentation and High Energy Particle Physics, Portugal. Made his doctoral work at CERN in G. Charpak's group, collaborating closely since then with V. Peskov in many detector-related themes. He has been deeply involved in the original development of timing Resistive Plate Chambers and his group has pursued the extension of this technology towards new capabilities and applications, being responsible for the RPC TOF wall of the HADES experiment. He is member of the HADES and RD51 international collaborations. With a special interest in detector physics, he authored or co-authored about 180 publications.

• Preface ixAcknowledgments xiAbbreviations xiiiIntroduction 11 “Classical” Gaseous Detectors and Their Limits 51.1 Ionization Chambers 51.2 Single-Wire Counters Operated in Avalanche Mode 71.3 Avalanche and Discharge Development in Uniform or Cylindrical Electric Fields 81.3.1 Fast Breakdown 141.3.2 Slow Breakdown 161.4 Pulsed Spark and Streamer Detectors 161.5 Multiwire Proportional Chambers 181.6 A New Idea for Discharge Quenching and Localization 20References 242 Historical Developments Leading toModern Resistive Gaseous Detectors 272.1 Introduction: the Importance of the Parallel-Plate Geometry 272.2 First Parallel-Plate Counters 302.3 Further Developments 342.4 The First RPC Prototypes 352.5 Pestov’s Planar Spark Chambers 372.6 Wire-Type Detectors with Resistive Cathodes 41References 423 Basics of Resistive Plate Chambers 453.1 Introduction 453.2 Santonico and Cardarelli’s RPCs 453.3 Glass RPCs 523.4 Avalanche and Streamer Modes 553.4.1 Streamer Mode 553.4.2 Avalanche Mode 603.5 Signal Development 643.5.1 Signal Formation 643.5.2 Charge Distribution 743.5.3 Efficiency 763.5.4 Time Resolution 783.5.5 Position Resolution 803.6 Choice of Gas Mixtures 813.6.1 Main Requirements for RPC Gas Mixtures 813.6.2 Quenching Gas Mixtures 843.6.2.1 General Information 843.6.2.2 Historical Review about Gas Mixtures for Inhibiting Photon Feedback 863.6.2.3 Some Considerations on Delayed Afterpulses 903.7 Current in RPCs 923.8 Dark Counting Rate 963.9 Effects of Temperature and Pressure 99References 1064 Further Developments in Resistive Plate Chambers 1114.1 Double Gap RPCs 1114.2 Wide-Gap RPCs 1134.3 The Multi-gap RPCs 1174.4 “Space-Charge” Effects 1274.5 Review of AnalyticalModels of RPC Behavior 1294.5.1 Electron Avalanches Deeply Affected by Space Charge 1314.5.2 Highly Variable Currents Flowing through Resistive Materials 1344.5.3 Electrical Induction through Materials with Varied Electrical Properties 1354.5.4 Propagation of Fast Signals in Multiconductor Transmission Lines 1354.6 Timing RPCs 1384.7 The Importance of Front-End Electronics for Operation in Streamer and Avalanche Modes 1434.8 Attempts to Increase Sensitivity via Secondary Electron Emission 143References 1545 Resistive Plate Chambers in High Energy Physics Experiments 1615.1 Early Experiments Using RPCs 1615.2 RPCs for the L3 Experiment at LEP 1695.3 The Instrumented Flux Return of the BaBar Experiment 1725.4 The ARGO-YBJ Detector 1765.5 The “BIG” Experiments: ATLAS, ALICE, and CMS at LHC 1805.5.1 ATLAS 1825.5.2 CMS 1875.5.3 Some CommonThemes to ATLAS and CMS 1935.5.4 ALICE 1935.6 The RPC-TOF System of the HADES Experiment 1955.7 The Extreme Energy Events Experiment 2015.8 Other Experiments 206References 2086 Materials and Aging in Resistive Plate Chambers 2116.1 Materials 2116.1.1 Glasses and Glass RPCs 2136.1.2 Bakelite 2216.1.3 Methods to Measure Bakelite Resistivity 2236.1.4 Semiconductive Materials 2286.2 Aging Effects 2296.2.1 Aging in RPCs Operated in StreamerMode 2296.2.1.1 L3 and Belle 2296.2.1.2 Experience Gained in BaBar 2306.2.2 Melamine and Bakelite RPCs without linseed oil treatment 2356.3 Aging Studies of RPC Prototypes Operated in Avalanche Mode Designed for the LHC Experiments 2376.3.1 Temperature Effects 2406.3.2 Effects of HF and Other Chemical Species 2416.3.3 Other Possible Changes in Bakelite Electrodes 2446.3.4 Closed-Loop Gas Systems for LHC RPCs 2446.4 Aging Studies on Multi-Gap RPCs 246References 2487 Advanced Designs: High-Rate, High-Spatial Resolution Resistive Plate Chambers 2537.1 The Issue of Rate Capability 2537.2 The “Static” Model of RPCs at High Rate 2577.3 The “Dynamic” Model of RPCs at High Rate 2617.4 The Upgrade of the Muon Systems of ATLAS and CMS 2667.5 Special High Rate RPCs 2697.5.1 High-Rate, High-Position Resolution RPCs 2767.6 High-Position Resolution Timing RPCs 279References 2828 New Developments in the Family of Gaseous Detectors:Micropattern Detectors with Resistive Electrodes 2858.1 “Classical” Micropattern Detectors with Metallic Electrodes 2858.2 Spark-Proven GEM-like Detectors with Resistive Electrodes 2898.3 Resistive Micromesh Detectors 2948.4 Resistive Microstrip Detectors 2988.5 Resistive Micro-Pixel Detectors 3008.6 Resistive Microhole-Microstrip and Microstrip-Microdot Detectors 301References 3049 Applications beyond High Energy Physics and Current Trends 3079.1 Positron Emission Tomography with RPCs 3079.2 Thermal Neutron Detection with RPCs 3109.3 Muon Tomography and Applications for Homeland Security 3149.4 X-Ray Imaging 3229.5 Cost-Efficient Radon Detectors Based on Resistive GEMs 3269.6 Resistive GEMs for UV Photon Detection 3319.6.1 CsI-Based Resistive GEMs for RICH 3329.6.2 Flame and Spark Detection and Visualization with Resistive GEMs 3379.7 Cryogenic Detectors with resistive electrodes 3389.8 Digital Calorimetry with RPCs 341References 344Conclusions and Perspectives 349A Some Guidelines for RPC Fabrication 353A.1 Assembling of Bakelite RPCs 353A.2 Assembling of Glass RPCs 356A.3 Assembling of Glass MRPCs 361References 365Glossary 367Index 373