A TPC with Triple-GEM Gas Amplification and TimePix Readout

TL;DR

This paper reports on the development and testing of a GEM-based TimePix TPC prototype, demonstrating high spatial and temporal resolution for particle detection in beam and cosmic ray experiments.

Contribution

It introduces a novel TPC design using triple-GEM amplification with TimePix readout, achieving sub-20 micrometer spatial and sub-10 nanosecond timing resolutions.

Findings

Point resolution better than 20 micrometers for short drift distances

Time resolution better than 10 nanoseconds at 100 MHz clock

Effective performance over 26 cm drift length with cosmic muons

Abstract

We present measurements with a GEM based TPC prototypes and the TimePix CMOS ASIC as charge collecting anode. Tests with a small prototype were performed in a 5 GeV electron beam at DESY. Different GEM orientations and geometries were tested. It is shown that the point resolution for short drift distances is better than 20 micrometer. The achieved time resolution is better than 10 ns at 100 MHz clock frequency. Furthermore, experimental studies with an enlarged pixel size are addressed. To study the performance for longer drift distances a chamber with 26 cm drift length is operated in Bonn. Using also GEM and TimePix for the readout, data with cosmic muons and a Sr90 source are recorded. The spatial resolution and cluster properties are studied in dependence on the drift distance.