Numerical Qualification of Eco-Friendly Gas Mixtures for Avalanche-Mode Operation of Resistive Plate Chambers in INO-ICAL

TL;DR

This study numerically evaluates an eco-friendly gas mixture as a sustainable alternative for avalanche-mode Resistive Plate Chambers, comparing its performance with traditional and other eco-friendly gases to ensure efficiency and safety.

Contribution

The paper introduces a validated numerical model to assess eco-friendly gas mixtures for Resistive Plate Chambers, proposing a new argon-CO2-N2 mixture as a potential replacement.

Findings

The new gas mixture shows comparable efficiency to standard gases.

Adding SF6 improves the mixture's efficacy.

High-end electronics can enhance detector performance.

Abstract

Numerical qualification of an eco-friendly alternative gas mixture for avalanche mode operation of Resistive Plate Chambers is the soul of this work. To identify the gas mixture, a numerical model developed elsewhere by the authors has been first established by comparing the simulated figure of merits (efficiency and streamer probability) with the experimental data for the gas mixture used in INO-ICAL. Then it has been used to simulate the same properties of a gas mixture based on argon, carbon di-oxide and nitrogen, identified as potential replacement by studying its different properties. Efficacy of this eco-friendly gas mixture has been studied by comparing the simulated result with the standard gas mixture used in INO-ICAL as well as with experimental data of other eco-friendly hydrofluorocarbon (HFO1234ze) based potential replacements. To increase the efficacy of the proposed gas mixture, studies of the traditional way (addition of a little amount of SF$_6$) and an alternative approach (exploring the option of high-end electronics) were carried out.