Eco-friendly gas mixtures for Resistive Plate Chambers based on tetrafluoropropene and Helium

Due to the recent restrictions deriving from the application of the Kyoto protocol, the main components of the gas mixtures presently used in the Resistive Plate Chambers systems of the LHC experiments will be most probably phased out of production in the coming years. Identifying possible replacements with the adequate characteristics requires an intense R&D activity, which was recently started, in collaborations with various experiments. Possible new gases have been proposed and are thoroughly investigated. Some tests on one of the most promising candidate - HFO-1234ze, an allotropic form of tetrafluoropropane - have already been reported. Here an innovative approach, based on the use of Helium, to solve the problem related to the high operating voltage needed to operate the chambers with HFO-1234ze based gas mixtures, is discussed and the first results are shown. © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab srl.