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Descrição
The LHC's experiments pass through significant upgrades of their systems aiming at the high-luminosity regime starting in 2025. The experiments must stand for higher event rates and the massive amount of data to acquire in this new regime to couple with experimental needs. For the ALICE time-projection chamber (TPC), the new technology of gaseous electron multiplier (GEM) replaces the multi-wire proportional chambers as readouts with the advantages of continuous operation and superior count rate capabilities. Besides, the GEMs present better stability regarding the ion-backflow and aging effects. The ALICE São Paulo team contributes massively to this upgrade by developing the SAMPA chip that is responsible for signal acquisition, treatment, and conversion to digital. More recently, the team's contribution has been extended to the development of GEMs, to the study of new production and prototyping techniques, to the study of the aging process for its better understanding, and to the application of such technology to other areas. For example, the development of a local production route for the technological application of GEMs is under study. Micro-resolution 3D printing has been studied for fast prototyping of new geometries, pushing forward the GEM technology and state-of-the-art additive manufacturing techniques. In the context of the ALICE experiment and the CERN RD51 collaboration, the degradation process that leads to the aging of the GEM is under study by adopting advanced surface analysis techniques, providing significant outcomes compared to recent similar studies. Additionally, targeting technological applications, the GEM’s position- and energy-sensitive capability has enabled the production of hyper-spectra maps of transmitted and reflected x-rays for imaging applications. Recent findings when adapting the GEM's sensitivity to neutrons by adopting conversion layers has proved to be an alternative to the $^3$He current neutron detection technology. For the future, the team targets the consolidation of local production of GEMs and the GEM's geometry optimization by advanced microfabrication techniques, the study of gaseous fragments that participate in the degradation process, and the development of a complete detector prototype to open new horizons of technological application with significant development of Brazilian technological capabilities for radiation detection applications.
| Key Words | Radiation gaseous detectors, Gas electron multiplier, Time-projection chamber, ALICE |
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