Behavior of Large Resistive Plate Counters at High Rates

Resistive Plate Counters are being investigated by various experimental groups at laboratories around the world, due to its appeal as a promising, cost effective detector technology for particle, nuclear and cosmic ray physics. Ionizing radiation traversing through these counters give rise to large signals (400 millivolt), with rise times (2-3ns) comparable to scintillator-PMT systems, and time resolution of about Ins. Furthermore, by using readout strips of optimum width, it might be possible to achieve good spatial resolution, comparable to other standard detectors used to track charged particles.