Improving rate capability of Resistive Plate Chambers

The High Luminosity phase of Large Hadron Collider, foreseen to start in less then ten years from now, has triggered the development of a new generation of gaseous detectors with much improved performance with respect to the present ones. For what concerns Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs), research is focusing on the methods to increase their rate capability, i.e. the maximum flux of impinging particles that these devices can stand without losing efficiency for a prolonged period of time. Different solutions are being proposed and extensively investigated upon. Here a brief overview of the physics processes taking place in RPCs at high rate is presented. The fundamental parameters that influence rate capability are taken into exam and the way how they can be optimized in order to increase rate capability is outlined. A comparison between the models used and experimental data confirms the goodness of the approach and the validity of results obtained

Resistive Plate Chambers with Gd-coated electrodes as thermal neutron detectors

Abstract Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) are wide spread, cheap, easy-to-build and large size detectors, used mainly to reveal ionising particles in high-energy physics experiments. Here a technique, consisting in coating the inner surface of the bakelite electrodes with a mixture of linseed oil and Gd 2 O 3 is reported. This allows to make RPCs sensitive also to thermal neutrons, making them suitable to be employed for industrial, medical or de-mining applications. Thermal neutron-sensitive RPCs can be operated at atmospheric pressure, are lightweighted, have low γ -ray sensitivity and are easy to handle even when large areas have to be covered. This paper reports the results of the first test of this detector, performed at the Geel Linear Accelerator (GELINA) in Belgium

Neutron irradiation of RPCs for the CMS experiment

All the CMS muon stations will be equipped with Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs). They will be exposed to high neutron background environment during the LHC running. In order to verify the safe operation of these detectors, an irradiation test has been carried out with two RPCs at high neutron flux (about ), integrating values of dose and fluence equivalent to 10 LHC-years. Before and after the irradiation, the performance of the detectors was studied with cosmic muons, showing no relevant aging effects. Moreover, no indication of damage or chemical changes were observed on the electrode surfaces

Recent results and developments on double-gap RPCs for CMS

Abstract A 3 mm wide-gap Resistive Plate Chamber, as proposed for CMS, has been tested in the H2 Cern beam line. Results on efficiency, rate capability, time resolution and cluster size are reported

Resistive Plate Chambers in avalanche mode: a comparison between model predictions and experimental results

Abstract In this paper a model simulating the main aspects of avalanche growth and signal development in Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) is presented. The model has been used to compute the performances, in particular, charge distribution and efficiency of single- double- and multi-gap RPCs, and to compare them with the available experimental results. This model could be used to optimize the characteristics of this type of detector with a view to its use in the future large experiments at LHC: ATLAS and CMS

Experimental results on RPC neutron sensitivity

Abstract RPC neutron sensitivity has been studied during two tests done with different neutrons energies. In the first test, neutrons from spontaneous fission events of 252 Cf were used (average energy 2 MeV ); while in the second test neutrons were produced using a 50 MeV deuteron beam on a 1 cm thick beryllium target (average energy 20 MeV ). Preliminary results show that the neutron sensitivity in double gap mode is (0.52±0.03)×10−3 at about 2 MeV and (5.3±0.5)×10−3 at about 20 MeV

The RPC system for the CMS experiment at the LHC

The CMS detector at the LHC has a redundant muon system. Two independent muon systems are used in the L1 trigger. One of them is based on wire chambers, the other on RPC detectors. Properly combining the answers of the two systems results in a highly efficient L1 trigger with high flexibility from the point of view of rate control. Simulation results show, however, that the RPC system suffers from false triggers caused by coincidence of spurious hits. System improvements, which could avoid oiling the chambers, are possible. RPCs have also proved to be very useful for muon track reconstruction

RPC sensitivity to low energy neutrons and ? rays:preliminary results

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