Development of a high-efficiency gaseous detector for the localization of photons from scintillators and new generation of Cherenkov counters

We propose to pursue the development of condensed photocathodes in gaseous parallel plate chambers with the following aims: - improvement of the photocathode formation technology on medium and large surfaces, with the requirement to resist in air for short term as is the case for CsI protected by exposure to TMAE; - study of gas mixtures transparent at VUV wavelenghts and allowing to obtain high gains in parallel plate chamber with condensed photocathode, in view of detection of photons for fast Cherenkov and RICH counters; - development of suitable electronics to exploit the intrinsic time resolution of the device, in the nanosecond region.