Divide and Gain! Multi-gap RPC detectors

Classical Resistive Plate Chambers (RPCs) are built using a pair of high resistivity electrode plates. A special gas mixture flown in the gap created by the parallel electrodes, is used as the active medium for charged particle detection. These so-called Single-gap RPCs (SRPC) are the choice of many high energy physics experiments - including the ICAL of the INO project, due to their good time resolution and efficiencies. Dividing the gas gap using several very thin floating electrodes, but summing up the signals created in the sub-gaps, essentially creates a Multi-gap RPC (MRPC). MRPCs improve timing resolution by better than an order, yet maintain excellent detection efficiencies and thus found their way into most of the modern Time-of-Flight (ToF) detectors. We initiated development of MRPC detectors as an extension of the SRPC detector R&D programme. 

We will begin this talk with a brief overview of SRPC and status of its deployment in the ICAL experiment. We will then introduce MRPC and describe our efforts to develop and  characterise this device. We will also mention a few of its potential applications.