Gaseous detector of elementary particles

An apparatus comprising a gaseous elementary-particle detector, wherein said detector comprises a gas chamber, an amplifier, a readout plate, a charge sensor, and a processing unit, wherein said gas chamber is configured to enclose a gas that, when passed through by an elementary particle, yields a primary charge, said primary charge being carried by one of an ion and an electron, wherein said amplifier produces an avalanche of secondary charges from said primary charge, wherein said readout plate is arranged to be struck by said avalanche, wherein said readout plate comprises an exterior face, a dielectric layer, and conductive strips, wherein said charge sensor is configured to receive, from each of said conductive strips, information indicative of an amount of charge on said conductive strip and to provide data to said processing unit indicative of said amount of charge on each of said conductive strips, wherein said processing unit is configured to determine an impact point at which said elementary particle interacted with a gas molecule in said gas based on amount of charge measured on each of said conductive strips by said charge sensor and from known positions of said strips on said readout plate, wherein said exterior face of said readout plate is arranged so as to be struck by said avalanche of secondary charges, wherein said dielectric layer has a front face turned towards said exterior face, wherein said conductive strips extend parallel to said front face in at least two different directions, wherein each conductive strip extends from a first end to a second end, wherein each conductive strip electrically connects to a corresponding input of said charge sensor, wherein said conductive strips comprise identical conductive tiles that are equidistant from said exterior face, wherein said conductive tiles are distributed over said front face of said dielectric layer, wherein dielectric material mechanically separates said tiles from each other, wherein for each tile, there exists a family of rectangles that entirely contains said tile, wherein, within said family of rectangles there exists a smallest rectangle, wherein said smallest rectangle has an area that is smaller than areas of all other rectangles in said family, wherein said smallest rectangle has a longer side and shortest side, wherein said shortest side has a length that is smaller than that of said longest side, wherein said length of said shortest side defines a smallest dimension of said tile, wherein said smallest dimension is less than three hundred micrometers, wherein said electrical connections are disposed under said dielectric layer, wherein said electrical connections electrically connect said conductive tiles in series so as to form said conductive strips, wherein said electrical connections are arranged such that each conductive tile belongs to at most a single conductive strip and such that each side of a first tile is adjacent to a side of a second tile, and wherein said first and second conductive tiles belong to different conductive strips.

An apparatus comprising a readout plate for use with a detector that detects evidence of elementary particles passing through a gas, wherein said readout place comprises an exterior face, a first dielectric layer, and conductive strips, wherein said first dielectric layer comprises a front face that is turned toward said exterior face, wherein said exterior face is arranged to be struck by an avalanche of secondary charges, wherein said conductive strips extend parallel to said front face in at least two directions, wherein each conductive strip extends from a first end to a second end thereof, wherein said second end is configured for connection to a charge sensor, wherein said conductive strips comprise conductive tiles and electrical connections, wherein said conductive tiles are identical to each other, wherein said conductive tiles are all equidistant from said exterior face, wherein said conductive tiles are distributed over said front face of said first dielectric layer, wherein said conductive tiles are mechanically separated from each other by a dielectric, wherein for each tile, there exists a family of rectangles that entirely contains said tile, wherein, within said family of rectangles there exists a smallest rectangle, wherein said smallest rectangle has an area that is smaller than areas of all other rectangles in said family, wherein said smallest rectangle has a longer side and shortest side, wherein said shortest side has a length that is smaller than that of said longest side, wherein said length of said shortest side defines a smallest dimension of said tile, wherein said smallest dimension is less than three hundred micrometers, wherein said electrical connections are located under said first dielectric layer, wherein said electrical connections electrically connect said conductive tiles in series to form said conductive strips, wherein said electrical connections are arranged such that each conductive tile belongs to at most a single conductive strip and such that each side of a first tile is adjacent to a side of a second tile, and wherein said first and second conductive tiles belong to different conductive strips.