Bochum 2009 – scientific programme

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HK: Fachverband Hadronen und Kerne

HK 52: Accelerators and Instrumentation I

HK 52.1: Group Report

Wednesday, March 18, 2009, 14:00–14:30, H-ZO 80

Development of a high-rate TPC based on GEM amplification — •Bernhard Ketzer — Technische Universität München, Physik Department, James-Franck-Straße, D-85748 Garching, Germany

Future experiments at high-luminosity machines such as PANDA, an antiproton-proton annihilation experiment at FAIR, require high-resolution tracking detectors with good momentum resolution, which at the same time have a very small material budget in order to minimize secondary interactions. A TPC ideally fulfills these requirements, and in addition contributes to particle identification via the measurement of the specific energy loss. The high interaction rate at these machines, however, requires to run the TPC in a continuous mode, i.e. without a gating grid. Therefore GEM foils are used to limit the backflow of ions from the multiplication into drift region. A small triple GEM-TPC has been built and tested using cosmic muons as well as electrons from ELSA, Bonn. First results from these tests will be shown, which provide a valuable cross-check for Monte Carlo simulations of the performance of a TPC in PANDA. These simulations indeed indicate that the challenges of field distortions and event mixing can be overcome. Currently, a larger prototype TPC with a driftlength of 60 cm and a diameter of 30 cm is being built. This chamber is expected to be tested both in the FOPI experiment at GSI and at ELSA in the near future. The design and the present status of this prototype will be discussed.

This work is supported by the BMBF, the DFG cluster of excellence Universe, the MLL München, and the EU 6th Framework Program.