Close cathode chamber: Low material budget MWPC

Performance of asymmetric-type MWPC-s are presented. In this structure, referred to as Close Cathode Chamber in an earlier study, the material budget is significantly reduced on one hand by the elimination of external support frame, on the other hand by thin detector walls. In this paper it is demonstrated that the outline is compatible with large size detectors (1 m wire length), maintaining mechanical and operation stability, with total weight of 3 kg (including support structure) for a half square meter surface. The detection efficiency and response time is shown to be sufficient for L0 triggering in the ALICE VHMPID layout. Reduced sensitivity to cathode deformations (due to internal overpressure as mechanical strain) is directly demonstrated. On small sized chambers, improvement of position resolution with analog readout is evaluated, reaching 0.09 mm RMS with 2 mm wide cathode segments. Simulation results on signal time evolutions are presented. With the above studies, comparison of classical MWPC-s and the Close Cathode Chamber design is performed in all major aspects.