Erlangen 2026 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 74: Gaseous Detectors II

T 74.5: Talk

Thursday, March 19, 2026, 17:15–17:30, KH 01.014

Replacing SF6 in Resistive Plate Chamber Detectors for HL-LHC Experiments and Beyond — •Giorgia Proto and Oliver Kortner — Max Planck Institute for Physics

The Resistive Plate Chambers (RPC) are gaseous detectors with excellent timing performance and are used for triggering on muons in the LHC experiments. They operate with the standard gas mixture, composed of C2H2F4/i-C4H10/SF6,that has a high Global Warming Potential (GWP) of 1430 due to the presence of C2H2F4(GWP~1450) and SF6(GWP~22400).The C2H2F4 and SF6 are not recommended for industrial uses anymore, thus their availability will be increasingly reduced over time and the search for an alternative gas mixture is of absolute priority. The most critical component to replace is the SF6, because it acts as streamer suppressor, thus allowing for RPC operation at low current, for high rate capability and longevity. In this work the SF6 is replaced with the Chloro-Trifluoropropene (C3H2ClF3, GWP~5), never been tested in the RPC detectors before. The performance of the RPC detector in terms of efficiency, streamer probability and time resolution have been studied in the Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF++) at CERN at high irradiation rates, as expected at the High Luminosity LHC. The performance of the RPC detector with enivornment-friendly gases and status of the aging campaign performed using the new gas is presented.

Keywords: Ecogas