Evaporating short-circuits in the ATLAS liquid argon barrel presampler 006

A technique to eliminate or limit the implications of short-circuits in the ATLAS barrel presampler is described. A high voltage capacitor with a large capacity is charged at different high voltages and discharged through the short-circuit which allows either to disintegrate the dust being the origin of the short-circuit, or to burn away a thin etched copper strip which acts as a fuse on the corresponding presampler anode. This effect is possible even in the presence of a resistive HV cable (10 to 30 ohms) in series which dampens the pulse.