µRWELL-PICOSEC: The Development of Fast Timing Resistive Micro-WELL Detector Technology

We present the development of a new concept of fast timing gaseous detector, the µRWELLPICOSEC detector based on Resistive Micro-Well (µRWELL) technology to provide timing resolution in the tens of picosecond range for application as time-of-flight (TOF) technology in the particle physics and medical instrumentation fields. The µRWELL-PICOSEC technology combined a Cerenkov radiator for the generation of Cerenkov photons from high energy charged particles, a photocathode for the conversion of the produced photons into primary electrons and the µRWELL foil for the multiplication of the electron to produce large signal on pad segmentation readout. The proof of concept of µRWELL-PICOSEC is demonstrated with a small single-channel prototype and preliminary timing performance of 90 ps has been measured. Optimization study the amplification structure of µRWELL-PICOSEC for the improvement of timing resolution is discussed and results on timing performance studies in beam at CERN are presented. The development of large area (100 mm × 100 mm) µRWELL-PICOSEC and associated multichannel fast readout electronics and data acquisition system are also reported.