First tests of thick GEMs with electrodes made of a resistive kapton

We have developed a new design of a GEM-like detector with electrodes made of a resistive kapton. This detector can operate at gains close to 105105 even in pure noble gases (Ar and Ne) and if transited to discharges at higher gains, due to the high resistivity of electrodes, they do not damage either the detector or the front-end electronics. Gains ∼106∼106 can be achieved in a cascaded mode of operation. The detector can operate without gain degradation at counting rates of at least up to 104Hz/cm2 and it could thus be very useful in many applications requiring safe high-gain operation, for example, in RICH, TPCs, and calorimetry.