ar X iv : p hy si cs / 0 10 30 82 v 2 2 7 M ar 2 00 1 1 High pressure operation of the triple - GEM detector in pure Ne , Ar and Xe

We study the performance of the tr iple-GEM (Gas Electron Multiplier) detector in pure noble gases Ne, Ar and Xe, at different pressures varying from 1 to 10 atm. In Ar and Xe, the maximum attainable gain of the detector abruptly drops down for pressures exceeding 3 atm. In contrast , the maximum gain in Ne was found to increase with pressure, reaching a value of 10 a t 7 atm. The results obtained are of part icular interest for developing noble gas-based cryogenic particle detectors for solar neutrino and dark matter search. ∗ Corresponding author . Tel: +7-3832-302024; fax: +7-3832-342163. Emai l : [email protected]