Development of gaseous photomultiplier

We have been developing gaseous photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) with alkali photocathode combined with micropattern gas detectors (MPGDs). The potential advantage of the gaseous PMT is that it can achieve a very large effective area with adequate position and timing resolutions. In addition, it will be easily operated under a very high magnetic field, compared with the conventional vacuum-based PMT. To evaluate the gaseous PMTs filled with Ne and Ar based gas mixture, we have developed gaseous PMTs with an alkali photocathode combined with MPGDs such as a glass capillary plate, GEM, and Micromegas detector. We describe the recent development of the gaseous PMTs, particularly the production of the photocathode, gas gain, ion and photon feedbacks, quantum efficiency, and the characteristics in the magnetic field environment. (author)