Speaker
Description
Hydrogenated nonodiamond grains represent an alternative to CsI for detection of single VUV photons in gaseous detectors. A dedicated R&D study on of nanodiamond photocathodes coupled to THGEM-based photon detectors is ongoing. The first phase of these studies includes the comparison of QE in vacuum and in gaseous atmospheres and measurement of aging effects under irradiation and exposure to moisture: promising values for the VUV sensitivity and high robustness have been observed. The second phase consists in the characterization of the performance as electron multipliers of THGEMs coated with a variety of nanodiamond photoconverting layers: preliminary encouraging results from the ongoing systematic studies have been obtained. For the third phase, a photon detector prototype with hybrid Micromegas and THGEMs architecture has been built and equipped with hydrogenated nanodiamond photocathode on the first THGEM layer. We report on the status and perspective of this R&D programme.
