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Advances in Thick GEM-like gaseous electron multipliers. Part I: atmospheric pressure operation

C. Shalem·R. Chechik·A. Breskin·K. Michaeli
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Abstract

Thick GEM-like (THGEM) gaseous electron multipliers are made of standard printed-circuit board perforated with sub-millimeter diameter holes, etched at their rims. Effective gas multiplication factors of 100000 and 10000000 and fast pulses in the few nanosecond rise-time scale were reached in single- and cascaded double-THGEM elements, in atmospheric-pressure standard gas mixtures with single photoelectrons. High single-electron detection efficiency is obtained in photon detectors combining THGEMs and semitransparent UV-sensitive CsI photocathodes or reflective ones deposited on the top THGEM face; the latter benefits of a reduced sensitivity to ionizing background radiation. Stable operation was recorded with photoelectron fluxes exceeding MHz/mm2. The properties and some potential applications of these simple and robust multipliers are discussed.

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C. Shalem, R. Chechik, A. Breskin, K. Michaeli. 2006-01-17. Advances in Thick GEM-like gaseous electron multipliers. Part I: atmospheric pressure operation. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2005.12.241

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