Design and commission of TPC prototype integrated with 266 nm UV laser

Abstract The Time Projection Chamber (TPC) serves as the baseline main tracking detector in the Circular Electron Positron Collider Reference Design Report (CEPC refTDR) and is vital for the International Linear Collider (ILC). To achieve high position resolution and dE/dx measurements, a TPC prototype with a UV laser tracking system was developed at the Institute of High Energy Physics, CAS. The prototype includes 6 layers of horizontal single-tracks, 3 layers of vertical multi-beam lasers around the TPC detector chamber, a fast electronics readout with 1000 channels, a Gaseous Electron Multiplier (GEM) detector with an active area of 200 mm × 200 mm. This paper discusses the designs for the drift chamber, field cage, endplate readout, UV laser tracking system, and DAQ system, along with the commissioning results. The results show the reconstruction of 6 laser layers and indicate that a spatial resolution of 97.6 μm is achieved after a 50 mm drift distance in a 0 T magnetic field. All findings indicate that the TPC detector prototype with the integrated UV laser system has been successfully developed and is prepared for further research.