A UV laser test bench for micro-pattern gaseous detectors

UV lasers for the calibration of gaseous detectors have seen newfound employment with current-generation micro-pattern gaseous detectors (MPGDs), especially those devices not suitable for tests with traditional sources (e.g. cosmic rays or X-ray beams) by design constraints. An apparatus made of a UV laser designed for the characterization of the fast timing MPGD (FTM) is here described, together with the measurements of gain curve and electron drift velocity performed on a prototype of Time Projection GEM (TPG) to validate the setup.