Performance study of a single layer THGEM detector at E3 line of Beijing Test Beam Facility

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, 2013-09, Vol.722, p.43-48
• Main Authors: Zhang, Aiwu, Lü, Junguang, Yu, Boxiang, An, Guangpeng, Li, Jiacai, Wang, Zhigang, Cai, Xiao, Sun, Lijun, Fang, Jian, Xie, Yuguang, Zhang, Shaoping, Ke, Zunjian, Sun, Xilei, Gao, Long, Zhang, Xuan, Yang, Xiaopeng, Li, Chunyang, Hu, Tao, Zhou, Li
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Accelerators; Beam test; Beams (radiation); Detection efficiency; Detectors; DHCAL; Digital; Drift; Hadrons; Neon; Simulation; THGEM; TOF
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2013.04.071

A single layer THick Gaseous Electron Multiplier (THGEM) detector has been studied at E3 line of Beijing Test Beam Facility (BTBF). The responses of the detector to p and π+ at momenta 400MeV/c, 500MeV/c, 600MeV/c and 700MeV/c were investigated at different detector drift distances: 5mm and 3mm, the working gas was Neon/CH4 (95/5). The p/π+ particles were identified through Time of Flight (TOF) method using plastic scintillation detectors. Energy spectra of different particles at various momenta were studied, and they were compared with Geant4 simulation results. Detection efficiencies for p were measured to be about 97% for 5mm drift distance, and 91% for 3mm. Detection efficiencies for π+ were lower, in the range of 84%–92%. Based on the beam test results, the THGEM detector showed performances satisfying the requirements of a Digital Hadron CALorimeters (DHCAL) in future experiments.