A comparative study of microstrip plate geometries as UV photosensors withreflective photocathodes: Simulation

A numerical simulation of eight microstrip plate geometries operated in 760 torr of xenon was performed. The cathode widths and anode-to-cathode gaps were varied while the anode widths were held constant at 10 mum. Avalanche multiplication factors as a function of position and total gains for all ge ometries were determined. Since optical positive feedback is a limiting fac tor in considering microstrip plates as vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photosenso rs, the optical positive feedback of a CsI-coated microstrip plate used as a VUV photosensor for a gas proportional scintillator counter was estimated for all geometries. The geometry with the least optical positive feedback in this application was determined to have 160-mum cathodes and cathode-to- anode gaps of 55 mum.