A Timing RPC with low resistive ceramic electrodes

Abstract

For precise start time determination a Beam Fragmentation T${}_0$ Counter (BFTC) is under development for the Time-of-Flight Wall of the Compressed Baryonic Matter Spectrometer (CBM) at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at Darmstadt/Germany. This detector will be located around the beam pipe, covering the front area of the Projectile Spectator Detector. The fluxes at this region are expected to exceed 10${}^5$cm${}^{-2}$s${}^{-1}$. Resistive plate chambers (RPC) with ceramic composite electrodes could be use because of their high rate capabilities and radiation hardness of material. Efficiency $\ge$ 97\%, time resolution $\le$ 90 ps and rate capability $\ge$ 10${}^5$cm${}^{-2}$s${}^{-1}$ were confirmed during many tests with high beam fluxes of relativistic electrons. We confirm the stability of these characteristics with low resistive Si${}_3$N${}_4$/SiC floating electrodes for a prototype of eight small RPCs, where each of them contains six gas gaps. The active RPC size amounts 20$\times$20 mm${}^2$ produced on basis of Al${}_3$O${}_2$ and Si${}_3$N${}_4$/SiC ceramics. Recent test results obtained with relativistic electrons at the linear accelerator ELBE of the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf with new PADI-10 Front-end electronic will be presented.

6 pages, 5 figures, minor revisions according to the editor report, RPC2018 workshop proceedings