Measurement of ion backflow fraction in GEM detectors

Abstract

A systematic study is performed to measure the ion backflow fraction of the GEM detectors. The effects of different voltage configurations and Ar/CO2 gas mixtures, in ratios of 70:30, 80:20 and 90:10, on positive ion fraction are investigated in detail. Moreover, a comparative study is performed between single and quadruple GEM detectors. The ion current with detector effective gain is measured with various field configurations and with three proportions of gas mixtures. The ion backflow fraction for the GEM is substantially reduced with the lower drift field. A minimum ion backflow fraction of 18% is achieved in the single GEM detector with Ar/CO2 80:20 gas mixture, however, a minimum ion backflow fraction of 3.5%, 3.0%, and 3.8% are obtained for a drift field of 0.1 kV/cm with Ar/CO2 70:30, 80:20 and 90:10 gas mixtures, respectively for quadrupole GEM detector. Similar values of effective gain and ion backflow fraction have been found by calculating the current from pulse height spectrum method, obtained in the Multi Channel Analyser.