A prototype MRPC beam test for the BESⅢ ETOF upgrade

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%.