Liquid Argon Time Projection Chamber (LArTPC)

Working principle of a TPC

The basic working principle of a TPC is illustrated in the Figure below.

An incident charged particle ionizes the Argon atom(s) producing ionization electrons and positively charge Argon ions. Furthermore, scintillation light is produced . Collecting the prompt scintillation light by photon detectors (see Large Area Photon Detection System ) allow for the reconstruction of the interaction time. The ionization electrons are forced by an applied electric field between anode and cathode to move towards the charge readout plane (see Pixelated charge readout ). Using the information of the charge readout combined with the time signal a 3D reconstruction of event vertices and particle tracks is possible. The track's energy deposition (e.g. the number of produced ionization electrons per unit length) can be used for calorimetry and particle identification.