Recent progress on RPCs for the ALICE TOF system

The heavy-ion experiment ALICE at the CERN/LHC includes a large surface (∼160 m2), highly segmented (>105 channels) time-of-flight system for particle identification in the 0.5–1.5 GeV/c range. Recent progress of the related R&D effort on Multigap-RPC structures with several thin (∼250 μm) gaps, operated with non-flammable gas mixtures at atmospheric pressure, is presented. The performance of multi-channel prototypes – below 90 ps resolution at more than 95% efficiency – is discussed.