Thermal Bonding Micromegas and Its Applications in Scientific Experiments and Radiation Imaging
Since its invention by Ioannis Giomataris at CEA Saclay in 1996, the Micromegas detector has undergone significant development and is now widely used in nuclear and particle physics experiments. In recent decades, a novel thermal bonding method (TBM) has been developed at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Using this technique, large-area Micromegas detectors with high performance have been successfully fabricated and characterized through various tests with cosmic rays and particle beams.
Owing to its flexible manufacturing process, the TBM offers a lab-friendly approach to meeting specific experimental requirements. Examples include fabricating detectors with very low radiation background and different avalanche gaps for high- and low-pressure time projection chambers (TPCs), such as those used in the PandaX-III and MIMAC experiments for neutrinoless double-beta decay and directional dark matter searches. Additionally, double or triple micro-mesh gaseous structures (DMM/TMM) can also be produced to achieve very low ion backflow and high gain, making them suitable for high-rate TPCs and gas photon detectors required in nuclear physics and future collider experiments (e.g., 12C-12C fusion TPC, nuclear data TPC, CEPC-TPC and STCF-RICH). Furthermore, the thermal bonding Micromegas detectors have also been developed for applications in muography and medical beam monitoring.
In this seminar, the speaker will begin with a brief review of the historical development of TBM Micromegas in China, then focus on the TBM process and detector performance, as well as its broad potential in both scientific research and industrial/medical radiation imaging applications.