A prototype multi-gap resistive plate chamber （MRPC） with a 2 × 6 gap structure is developed for the upgrading of the endcap time-of-flight （ETOF） detector in the Beijing Spectrometer （BESⅢ ）. The prototype MRPC is tested in the E3 beam line of the Beijing Electron Positron Collider （BEPC） with secondary charged particles （π and p, etc） of 600 MeV/c. The test results show that the time resolution of the MRPC can reach 50 ps and that the detection efficiency is greater than 98%.
A new prototype of large area Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber （MRPC） with long readout strips was built. This Long-strip Multi-gap Resistive Plate Chamber （LMRPC） is double stacked and has ten 250 μm-thick gas gaps. Signals are read out from the two ends of each strip with an active area of 50 cmx 2.5 cm in each. The detector was tested at FOPI in GSI, using the secondary particles of proton beams （E = 3.5 GeV） colliding with a Pb target. The results show that the LMRPC prototype has a time resolution of about 60- 70 ps; the detecting efficiency is over 98% and the ratio of cross-talk is lower than 2%. The detector also has a good spatial resolution of 0.36 cm along the strip direction.
