The LArIAT liquid argon time projection chamber, placed in a tertiary beam of charged particles at the Fermilab Test Beam Facility, has collected large samples of pions, muons, electrons, protons, and kaons in the momentum range ∼ 300-1400 MeV/c. This paper describes the main aspects of the detector and beamline, and also reports on calibrations performed for the detector and beamline components.

In this paper we demonstrate the capability of high voltage varistors and gas discharge tube arrestors for use as surge protection devices in liquid argon time projection chamber detectors. The insulating and clamping behavior of each type of device is characterized in air (room temperature), and liquid argon (90 K), and their robustness under high voltage and high energy surges in cryogenic conditions is verified. The protection of vulnerable components in liquid argon during a 150 kV high voltage discharge is also demonstrated. Each device is tested for argon contamination and light emission effects, and both are constrained to levels where no significant impact upon liquid argon time projection chamber functionality is expected. Both devices investigated are shown to be suitable for HV surge protection applications in cryogenic detectors.

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Communication systems such as those used on satellite platforms demand high performance from individual components that make up the various systems and sub-systems. Switching and routing of RF signals between various modules is a routine and critical operation that determines the overall efficiency of the entire system. In this paper, we present the design and fabrication aspects of a direct contact RF MEMS switch designed to operate in the X band (8-12 GHz) with a target insertion of about 0·5 dB and isolation better than 30 dB. The actuation voltage is expected to be around 50 V. The die size is designed to be 3 mm (H) × 3 mm(W) × 2 mm(H). The switch is built from a low residual stress device layer of a highly conducting (0·005 Ohms-cm) silicon on insulator (SOI) wafer. After subsequent lithographic steps, the wafer is bonded to a Pyrex glass wafer which has been previously patterned with gold transmission lines and pull in electrodes. Being built from a single crystal silicon structure, the mechanical robustness of the actuator is much greater than the those in similar membranebased devices. A 6 mask fabrication process utilizing Deep Reactive Ion Etching to achieve high aspect ratio stiction free structures was developed and implemented. Devices from the first fabrication run are being analysed in our laboratory.

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