Logo
ScienceStack
Table of Contents
Fetching ...
Sign In

Design and Development of Portable RPC-Based Cosmic Muon Tracker

Yuvaraj Elangovan, B. Satyanarayana, Ravindra Shinde, Mandar Saraf, Pathaleswar, S. Thoi Thoi, Gobinda Majumder, S. R. Joshi, Piyush Verma, Honey Khindri, Umesh L

Abstract

Primary cosmic rays when interact with our atmosphere, produce a cascade of lighter secondary particles namely pion, kaon, neutrons, muons, electrons, positrons and neutrinos. Muons are one of the most abundant and easily detectable particles at the ground surface using a large variety of particle detectors. Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) of 2m x 2m in dimension were developed to be used in large scale as the active detector elements in the Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) which was planned to be built by the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). As a spin-off of this work, a portable stack of eight, one square foot RPC detectors is developed named as Cosmic Muon Tracker (CMT). It could be used to conduct small-scale particle detector experiments as well as training Students. We will discuss design, integration, characterisation and some of the applications of this detector in this paper.

Design and Development of Portable RPC-Based Cosmic Muon Tracker

Abstract

Primary cosmic rays when interact with our atmosphere, produce a cascade of lighter secondary particles namely pion, kaon, neutrons, muons, electrons, positrons and neutrinos. Muons are one of the most abundant and easily detectable particles at the ground surface using a large variety of particle detectors. Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) of 2m x 2m in dimension were developed to be used in large scale as the active detector elements in the Iron Calorimeter (ICAL) which was planned to be built by the India-based Neutrino Observatory (INO). As a spin-off of this work, a portable stack of eight, one square foot RPC detectors is developed named as Cosmic Muon Tracker (CMT). It could be used to conduct small-scale particle detector experiments as well as training Students. We will discuss design, integration, characterisation and some of the applications of this detector in this paper.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 11 sections, 19 figures, 1 table.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. RPC Design Overview and Detection Principle
  3. RPC Production and Testing
  4. Surface Resistivity Measurement
  5. Leak test of RPC Gaps
  6. I-V Characterization
  7. RPC Detector Characterization
  8. RPC integration into CMT Stack
  9. Trigger and Data Acquisition System
  10. System Efficiency, Technical Challenges and Student Training
  11. Conclusion

Figures (19)

  • Figure 1: Photograph of the CMT displaying a muon track. The track is visualized in real time using LEDs mounted on the front-end boards connected to the RPC detector stack
  • Figure 2: Major components involved in the fabrication of a single RPC detector. The images show (from left to right, top to bottom): Coated glass sheet, edge and button spacers, gas nozzles, a fully sealed gas chamber, pickup panels with copper strips, and a completed RPC unit.
  • Figure 3: Schematic side view illustrating the ionization and avalanche process inside a RPC.
  • Figure 4: Setup for surface resistivity measurement: Resistivity measurement jig, Placement in two orthogonal orientations (“H” and “I”) and Probing process using a digital multimeter.
  • Figure 5: Measured surface resistivity values (in M$\Omega$) for a single RPC glass plate in both “H” and “I” jig orientations.
  • ...and 14 more figures