Resistive Plate Chambers are rugged and affordable gas detectors
that have found extensive use in High Energy Physics and
Astroparticle experiments. The main features of these counters
are the very large pulse height, reduced cost per unit area and
good (about 1ns) time resolution. The field has enjoyed very
lively progress in recent years, including the introduction of
a new (avalanche) mode of operation, extension of the counting
rate capabilities to levels around 10MHz/cm 2,
improvement of
the time resolution for MIPs to 50 ps sigma and the achievement of
position resolutions of a few tens of micrometer. These new
developments have extended the range of HEP applications and
promise new applications in medical imaging.
Abstract: