Development of a large area advanced fast rich detector for particle identification at the Large Hadron Collider operated with heavy ions

A proposal is made for R&D support to investigate the feasability of a fast RICH detector with pad redout for low interaction rate applications (10-100 kHz). Such conditions are met specifically at the Large Hadron Collider when used in heavy ion mode as well as at a number of other applications (tau-Charm,Phi and B factories, SIS and others). The main objectives are: - to develop a complete chain of adequate techniques for deposition of photo- sensitive materials (CsI and similar) on pad electrodes - to optimize the detector for photon detection efficiency, noise contributions, and radiation thickness - to develop a specific VLSI front end electronics matched to pad readout of MWPC's with a large number of channels. Special attention will be paid to the operation of the detector in a high multiplicity environment (40 m-2), testing a 50x50 cm2 prototype in the beam.