The Successful Operation of Hole-Type Gaseous Detectors at Cryogenic Temperatures

We have demonstrated that hole-type gaseous detectors, gas electron multipliers and capillary plates (CPs) can operate at temperatures down to 77 K. For example, a single CP can operate at gains above in the entire temperature interval between 77 and 300 K. The same CP combined with CsI photocathodes operates perfectly well at gains of 100–1000, depending on the gas mixture. The obtained results open new fields of applications for CPs as detectors of ultraviolet light and charged particles at cryogenic temperatures: liquid noble gas time-projection chambers, detectors for weakly interacting massive particles or liquid Xe scintillating calorimeters, and cryogenic positron-emission tomography.