The ALICE time of flight system

The Time-Of-Flight array of the ALICE experiment will provide particle identification in the central rapidity region and in the intermediate momentum range between 0.5 GeV/c and 2.5 GeV/c through high precision time measurements. It is based on Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers with excellent intrinsic time resolution. R&D work carried out during the last two years, final detector design and expected performance are briefly reviewed

Results from a large sample of MRPC-strip prototypes for the ALICE TOF detector

The MRPC (multi resistive plate chamber) strip is the basic element of the ALICE time-of-flight detector. A test of a large sample of MRPC-strip prototypes corresponding to 1.2% of the full detector was carried out during the autumn of 2002 at the CERN proton syncroton facility. This paper summarizes the main results obtained in terms of uniformity of response for all the tested channels

Operation of the Multigap Resistive Plate Chamber using a gas mixture free of flammable components

We have investigated the operation of the multigap resistive plate chamber (MRPC) for the ALICE-TOF system with a gas mixture free of flammable components. Two different gas mixtures, with and without iso-C4H10 have been used to measure the performance of the MRPC. The efficiency, time resolution, total charge, and the fast to total charge ratio have been found to be comparabl

Latest results on the performance of the multigap resistive plate chamber used for the ALICE TOF

For the identification of particles in the momentum range 0.5-2.5GeV/c, the ALICE experiment uses a Time Of Flight array consisting of Multigap Resistive Plate Chambers (MRPC) in the form of long strips. The design of the detector elements is as follows : double stack MRPCs with glass resistive plates and 5 gas gaps of 250 mum per stack. The latest results on the performance of these MRPCs are presented. Typical values of time resolution a are better than 50 ps, with an efficiency of 99.9% and a long, more than 1.5 kV, streamer-free plateau