Charge Transfer Properties Through Graphene Layers in Gas Detectors

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice with remarkable mechanical, electrical and optical properties. For the first time graphene layers suspended on copper meshes were installed into a gas detector equipped with a gaseous electron multiplier. Measurements of low energy electron and ion transfer through graphene were conducted. In this paper we describe the sample preparation for suspended graphene layers, the testing procedures and we discuss the preliminary results followed by a prospect of further applications.Comment: 2014 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference with the 21st Symposium on Room-Temperature Semiconductor X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Detectors, 4 pages, 8 figure

Charge Transfer Properties Through Graphene for Applications in Gaseous Detectors

Graphene is a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice with remarkable mechanical and electrical properties. Regarded as the thinnest and narrowest conductive mesh, it has drastically different transmission behaviours when bombarded with electrons and ions in vacuum. This property, if confirmed in gas, may be a definitive solution for the ion back-flow problem in gaseous detectors. In order to ascertain this aspect, graphene layers of dimensions of about 2x2cm$^2$, grown on a copper substrate, are transferred onto a flat metal surface with holes, so that the graphene layer is freely suspended. The graphene and the support are installed into a gaseous detector equipped with a triple Gaseous Electron Multiplier (GEM), and the transparency properties to electrons and ions are studied in gas as a function of the electric fields. The techniques to produce the graphene samples are described, and we report on preliminary tests of graphene-coated GEMs.Comment: 4pages, 3figures, 13th Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detector

Demonstration of Gd-GEM detector design for neutron macromolecular crystallography applications

The European Spallation Source (ESS) in Lund, Sweden will become the world's most powerful thermal neutron source. The Macromolecular Diffractometer (NMX) at the ESS requires three 51.2 x 51.2~cm$^{2}$ detectors with reasonable detection efficiency, sub-mm spatial resolution, a narrow point spread function (PSF) and good time resolution. This work presents measurements with the improved version of the NMX detector prototype consisting of a Triple-GEM detector with natural Gd converter and a low material budget readout. The detector was successfully tested at the neutron reactor of the Budapest Neutron Centre (BNC) and at the D16 instrument at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in Grenoble. The measurements with Cadmium and Gadolinium masks in Budapest demonstrate that the point spread function of the detector lacks long tails that could impede the measurement of diffraction spot intensities. On the D16 instrument at ILL, diffraction spots from Triose phosphate isomerase w/ 2-phosphoglycolate (PGA) inhibitor were measured both in the D16 Helium-3 detector and the Gd-GEM. The comparison between the two detectors show a similar point spread function in both detectors, and the expected efficiency ratio compared to the Helium-3 detector. Both measurements together thus give good indications that the Gd-GEM detector fits the requirements for the NMX instrument at ESS

The novel XYU-GEM to resolve ambiguities

Removing ambiguities within a single stage becomes crucial when one can not use multiple detectors behind each other to resolve them which naturally is the case for neutral radiation. An example would be RICH detectors. Commonly pixilated readout is choosen for this purpose. However, this causes a remarkable increase in quantity of channels and does not scale up well. Therefore, the XYU-GEM was proposed as a three coordinate strip-readout which is combined with a triple GEM detector. The readout complements a common XY readout with an additional projection which is tilted by 45{\deg}. The overdetermination due to three projections can be used to resovle ambiguities. Following the detector design will be explained, first measurements discussed to understand the response of the detector and a way to change the charge sharing without changing the manufacturing parameters of the readout

Construction, test and commissioning of the triple-GEM tracking detector for COMPASS

The Small Area Tracking system of the COMPASS experiment at CERN includes a set of 20 large area, fast position-sensitive Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) detectors, designed to reliably operate in the harsh radiation environment of the experiment. We describe in detail the design, choice of materials, assembly procedures and quality controls used to manufacture the devices. The test procedure in the laboratory, the performance in test beams and in the initial commissioning phase in the experiment are presented and discussed

X-ray imaging with gaseous detectors using the VMM3a and the SRS

The integration of the VMM3a Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) into RD51's Scalable Readout System (SRS) provides a versatile tool for the readout of Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs). With its self-triggered high-rate readout, its analogue part that allows to get information on the deposited energy in the detector, and its so-called neighbouring-logic that allows to recover information on the charge distribution, this new system has features of particular interest for digital X-ray imaging. In the present article, we want to emphasise the capabilities of VMM3a/SRS by presenting results of X-ray imaging studies. We will highlight the advantages on the energy and the spatial resolution provided by the neighbouring-logic. In the first part, we focus on spatial resolution studies. We show how segmented readout structures introduce a repeating pattern in the distribution of the reconstructed positions (using the centre-of-gravity method) and how this behaviour can be mitigated with the neighbouring-logic. As part of these studies, we explore as well an alternative position reconstruction algorithm. In the second part of the article, we present the energy resolution studies.Peer reviewe

An overview of the design, construction and performance of large area triple-GEM prototypes for future upgrades of the CMS forward muon system

GEM detectors are used in high energy physics experiments given their good spatial resolution, high rate capability and radiation hardness. An international collaboration is investigating the possibility of covering the 1.6 < vertical bar eta vertical bar < 2.4 region of the CMS muon endcaps with large-area triple-GEM detectors. The CMS high-eta area is actually not fully instrumented, only Cathode Strip Chamber (CSC) are installed. The vacant area presents an opportunity for a detector technology able to to cope with the harsh radiation environment; these micropattern gas detectors are an appealing option to simultaneously enhance muon tracking and triggering capabilities in a future upgrade of the CMS detector. A general overview of this feasibility study is presented. Design and construction of small (10cm x 10cm) and full-size trapezoidal (1m x 0.5m) triple-GEM prototypes is described. Results from measurements with x-rays and from test beam campaigns at the CERN SPS is shown for the small and large prototypes. Preliminary simulation studies on the expected muon reconstruction and trigger performances of this proposed upgraded muon system are reported

Rate-capability of the VMM3a front-end in the RD51 Scalable Readout System

The VMM3a is an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), specifically developed for the readout of gaseous detectors. Originally developed within the ATLAS New Small Wheel (NSW) upgrade, it has been successfully integrated into the Scalable Readout System (SRS) of the RD51 collaboration. This allows, to use the VMM3a also in small laboratory set-ups and mid-scale experiments, which make use of Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs). As part of the integration of the VMM3a into the SRS, the readout and data transfer scheme was optimised to reach a high rate-capability of the entire readout system and profit from the VMM3a’s high single-channel rate-capability of 3.6 Mhits∕s. The optimisation focused mainly on the handling of the data output stream of the VMM3a, but also on the development of a trigger-logic between the front-end cards and the DAQ computer. In this article, two firmware implementations of the non-ATLAS continuous readout mode are presented, as well as the implementation of the trigger-logic. Afterwards, a short overview on X-ray imaging results is presented, to illustrate the high rate-capability from an application point-of-view.Peer reviewe