Wire GEM detector

A wire GEM (WGEM) detector with a gas gap between meshes was constructed. The detector provides the amplification 5x10E5 for the gas mixture of Ar +20% CO2 at atmospheric pressure. As compared with well-known GEM detectors produced by perforation the plastic plate metalized on both sides the WGEM does not suffer from breakdowns between its electrodes and the effect of accumulation of charges on holes walls is absent. As a result the WGEM has high reliability and stability.Comment: Presented at the RD51 Collaboration Meeting, CERN, November 2009, submitted to the Prib. Tech. Expe

RETGEM with polyvinylchloride (PVC) electrodes

This paper presents a new design of the RETGEM (Resistive Electrode Thick GEM) based on electrodes made of a polyvinylchloride material (PVC). Our device can operate with gains of 10E5 as a conventional TGEM at low counting rates and as RPC in the case of high counting rates without of the transit to the violent sparks. The distinct feature of present RETGEM is the absent of the metal coating and lithographic technology for manufacturing of the protective dielectric rms. The electrodes from PVC permit to do the holes by a simple drilling machine. Detectors on a RETGEM basis could be useful in many fields of an application requiring a more cheap manufacturing and safe operation, for example, in a large neutrino experiments, in TPC, RICH systems.Comment: Presented at the RD51 Collaboration Meeting, CERN, November 200

Multiphonon anharmonic decay of a quantum mode

A nonperturbative theory of multiphonon anharmonic transitions between energy levels of a local mode is presented. It is shown that the rate of transitions rearranges near the critical level number $n_{cr}$: at smaller $n$ the process slows down, while at larger $n$ it accelerates in time, causing a jump-like loss of energy followed by the generation of phonon bursts. Depending on parameters, phonons are emitted in pairs, triplets etc.Comment: submitted to Europhys.Let