A new front-end for better performances of RPC in streamer mode

Resistive plate chambers (RPC) operated in streamer mode will provide the trigger of the ALICE forward muon spectrometer at the future large hadron collider at CERN. In a previous study, we had demonstrated that the time resolution of RPC in streamer mode could be improved significantly using a new discrimination technique called A DUaL Threshold (ADULT). The conclusions were based on a small sample of cosmic events, hence with almost zero incident flux, collected on a very simple test bench. The ADULT method has then been implanted in a custom integrated circuit and new data have been taken during beam and irradiation tests. The principle and the advantages of ADULT are reminded. The performances of the detector equipped with the new chip are given. r 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.