Development of large size Micromegas detectors for the upgrade of the ATLAS experiments

The luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN f oresees a luminosity increase by a factor 3 compared to the LHC luminosity design value. To c ope with the corresponding rate increase, the Muon System of the ATLAS experiment at CER N needs to be upgraded. In the first station of the high rapidity region, micromegas det ectors have been chosen as the main tracking chambers but will, at the same time, also contribut e to the trigger. We describe the R&D; efforts that led to the construction of the first (1 × 2.4 m 2 ) large micromegas detectors at CERN and outline the next steps towards the construction of the 12 00 m 2 of micromegas detectors for the ATLAS upgrade. The technical solutions, adopted in the c onstruction of the chamber as well as results on the detector performance with cosmic rays are s hown.