Construction and operation of a Double Phase LAr Large Electron Multiplier Time Projection Chamber

Abstract

We successfully operated a novel kind of LAr Time Projection Chamber based on a Large Electron Multiplier (LEM) readout system. The prototype, of about 3 liters active volume, is operated in liquid-vapour (double) phase pure Ar. The ionization electrons, after drifting in the LAr volume, are extracted by a set of grids into the gas phase and driven into the holes of a double stage LEM, where charge amplification occurs. Each LEM is a thick macroscopic hole multiplier of 10x10 cm${}^2$ manufactured with standard PCB techniques. The electrons signal is readout via two orthogonal coordinates, one using the induced signal on the segmented upper electrode of the LEM itself and the other by collecting the electrons on a segmented anode. Custom-made preamplifiers have been especially developed for this purpose. Cosmic ray tracks have been successfully observed in pure gas at room temperature and in double phase Ar operation. We believe that this proof of principle represents an important milestone in the realization of very large, long drift (cost-effective) LAr detectors for next generation neutrino physics and proton decay experiments, as well as for direct search of Dark Matter with imaging devices.

7 pages, 12 figures, Proc. 2008 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium, Dresden, Germany

References in corpus (2)

• ArDM: a ton-scale liquid Argon experiment for direct detection of Dark Matter in the Universe
• Experiments For CP-Violation: A Giant Liquid Argon Scintillation, Cerenkov And Charge Imaging Experiment ?

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Underground Neutrino Detectors for Particle and Astroparticle Science: the Giant Liquid Argon Charge Imaging ExpeRiment (GLACIER)
• First operation of a double phase LAr Large Electron Multiplier Time Projection Chamber with a two-dimensional projective readout anode
• Advances in Cryogenic Avalanche Detectors
• Gaseous and dual-phase time projection chambers for imaging rare processes
• Operation of a double-phase pure argon Large Electron Multiplier Time Projection Chamber: comparison of single and double phase operation
• Measurement of the two-photon absorption cross-section of liquid argon with a time projection chamber
• Performance study of the effective gain of the double phase liquid Argon LEM Time Projection Chamber
• Long-term operation of a double phase LAr LEM Time Projection Chamber with a simplified anode and extraction-grid design
• First results on light readout from the 1-ton ArDM liquid argon detector for dark matter searches
• GLACIER and related R&D
• LTARS: Analog Readout Front-end ASIC for Versatile TPC-applications