THGEM gain calculations using Garfield++: Solving discrepancies between the simulation and experimental data

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that incorporating the Penning effect into Garfield++ simulations accurately reproduces experimental gain measurements in THGEM detectors, resolving longstanding discrepancies.

Contribution

It introduces a method to include the Penning effect in Garfield++ simulations, significantly improving the accuracy of gain predictions for THGEM detectors.

Findings

Garfield++ simulations match experimental data when Penning effect is included.

Discrepancies in gain are reduced from two orders of magnitude to accurate levels.

Penning transfer explains differences between THGEM and GEM gain behaviors.

Abstract

Discrepancies between the measured and simulated gain in Thick Micropatterned gaseous detectors (MPGD), namely THGEM, have been observed by several groups. In order to simulate the electron avalanches and the gain the community relies on the calculations performed in Garfield++, known to produce differences of 2 orders of magnitude in comparison to the experimental data for thick MPGDs. In this work, simulations performed for Ne/5%CH4, Ar/5%CH4 and Ar/30%CO2 mixtures shows that Garfield++ is able to perfectly describe the experimental data if Penning effect is included in the simulation. The comparison between the number of excitations which may lead to a Penning transfer, is shown for THGEM and GEM, explaining the less pronounced gain discrepancies observed in GEM.