Eco-friendly gas mixtures for Resistive Plate Chambers based on Tetrafluoropropene and Helium

TL;DR

This paper investigates eco-friendly gas mixtures for Resistive Plate Chambers, focusing on using Helium to reduce operating voltage issues with HFO-1234ze, a promising alternative to traditional gases affected by environmental restrictions.

Contribution

It introduces an innovative Helium-based approach to mitigate high operating voltage in HFO-1234ze gas mixtures for Resistive Plate Chambers.

Findings

Helium addition reduces operating voltage of HFO-1234ze mixtures

First experimental results demonstrate feasibility of Helium-based mixtures

Potential for environmentally friendly gas alternatives in LHC experiments

Abstract

Due to the recent restrictions deriving from the application of the Kyoto protocol, the main components of the gas mixtures presently used in the Resistive Plate Chambers systems of the LHC experiments will be most probably phased out of production in the coming years. Identifying possible replacements with the adequate characteristics requires an intense R&D, which was recently started, also in collaborations across the various experiments. Possible candidates have been proposed and are thoroughly investigated. Some tests on one of the most promising candidate - HFO-1234ze, an allotropic form of tetrafluoropropane- have already been reported. Here an innovative approach, based on the use of Helium, to solve the problems related to the too elevate operating voltage of HFO-1234ze based gas mixtures, is discussed and the relative first results are shown.