Performance study of a large 1 × 1 m2 MRPC with 1 × 1 cm2 readout pads

A Semi-Digital Hadronic Calorimeter (SDHCAL) concept has been proposed for future leptonic collider experiments. The multigap resistive plate chamber (MRPC) is a candidate for the detector planes of this calorimeter. We have constructed three MRPCs of 1m × 1m size for tests of the SDHCAL. Two have 4 gas gaps and one has 5 gas gaps. To achieve high granularity for a calorimeter, the signals from the MRPC are readout by 1×1cm2 pads. The three MRPCs have similar design but the fishing line spacer has different configurations. All three MRPCs were successfully tested in the T10 test beam facility at CERN with a gas mixture of 95% C2H2F4 and 5% SF6. The efficiency and multiplicity of these chambers have been studied. All chamber reached around 94% efficiency at the proper operating voltage.