VHMPID RICH prototype using pressurized C4F8O radiator gas and VUV photon detector

Abstract A small-size prototype of a new Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detector using for the first time pressurized C4F8O radiator gas and a photon detector consisting of MWPC equipped with a CsI photocathode has been built and tested at the PS accelerator at CERN. It contained all the functional elements of the detector proposed as Very High Momentum Particle Identification (VHMPID) upgrade for the ALICE experiment at LHC to provide charged hadron track-by-track identification in the momentum range starting from 5 potentially up to 25 GeV/c. In the paper the equipment and its elements are described and some characteristic test results are shown.