First results with a microcavity plasma panel detector

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel microcavity plasma panel detector with high efficiency, fast response, and low background noise, demonstrating promising performance for particle detection applications.

Contribution

It reports the first fabrication and initial performance results of a microcavity plasma panel sensor with high efficiency and stability, a new approach in gaseous micropattern detectors.

Findings

Pixel efficiency exceeds 95% for beta particles.

Background rate is 3-4 orders of magnitude lower than signal rate.

Time resolution of 2.4 ns with low crosstalk.

Abstract

A new type of gaseous micropattern particle detector based on a closed-cell microcavity plasma panel sensor is reported. The first device was fabricated with 1 x 1 x 2 mm cells. It has shown very clean signals of 0.6 to 2.5 volt amplitude, fast rise time of approximately 2 ns and FWHM of about 2 ns with very uniform signal shapes across all pixels. From initial measurements with beta particles from a radioactive source, a maximum pixel efficiency of greater than 95% is calculated, for operation of the detector over a 100V wide span of high voltages (HV). Over this same HV range, the background rate per pixel was measured to be 3 to 4 orders of magnitude lower than the rate with the cell illuminated by the beta source. Pixel-to-pixel count rate uniformity is within 3% and stable within 3% for many days. The time resolution is 2.4 ns, and a very low cell-to-cell crosstalk has been measured between cells separated by 2 mm.