Bortfeldt, J. et al. (40 authors)Gallinaro, M.2019-02-052019-02-052018-09-21http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nima.2018.04.033http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/27526The prospect of pileup induced backgrounds at the High Luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) has stimulated intense interest in developing technologies for charged particle detection with accurate timing at high rates. The required accuracy follows directly from the nominal interaction distribution within a bunch crossing ( σz∼5 cm, σt∼170 ps). A time resolution of the order of 20–30 ps would lead to significant reduction of these backgrounds. With this goal, we present a new detection concept called PICOSEC, which is based on a “two-stage” Micromegas detector coupled to a Cherenkov radiator and equipped with a photocathode. First results obtained with this new detector yield a time resolution of 24 ps for 150 GeV muons, and 76 ps for single photoelectrons.engjournal article2019-02-05