Development of a GEM-TPC prototype

TL;DR

This paper reports the development and testing of a GEM-based TPC prototype designed for continuous operation in high-energy physics experiments, aiming to improve spatial resolution and vertex reconstruction capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a novel GEM-TPC prototype that eliminates gating, enabling continuous operation and testing under realistic experimental conditions.

Findings

Prototype successfully tested with carbon and lithium beams.

Spatial resolution and vertex reconstruction capabilities verified.

Potential for integration into the PANDA central tracker demonstrated.

Abstract

The use of GEM foils for the amplification stage of a TPC instead of a con- ventional MWPC allows one to bypass the necessity of gating, as the backdrift is suppressed thanks to the asymmetric field configuration. This way, a novel continuously running TPC, which represents one option for the PANDA central tracker, can be realized. A medium sized prototype with a diameter of 300 mm and a length of 600 mm will be tested inside the FOPI spectrometer at GSI using a carbon or lithium beam at intermediate energies (E = 1-3AGeV). This detector test under realistic experimental conditions should allow us to verify the spatial resolution for single tracks and the reconstruction capability for displaced vertexes. A series of physics measurement implying pion beams is scheduled with the FOPI spectrometer together with the GEM-TPC as well.