Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors (MPGDs) are devices often used for charge particle tracking, as exemplified at the LHC experiments. In recent years, these devices found applications beyond high energy physics mainly due to their imaging capabilities.
The small amount of ionisation charge produced by interacting particles is amplified, and typically the signals are read out electronically. An alternative to this approach is the optical readout: in certain conditions, the gaseous detector behaves like a scintillating plate with extraordinary light yield, and the light can be detected, for instance, with a camera.
This robust and versatile device is ideal for imaging purposes, and it can find several applications, for instance x-ray radiography and fluoroscopy, energy-resolved photon counting, and X-ray crystallography.
The focus of the seminar will be put on the recent developments at CERN of the optical readout technique, and its possible applications.
