This thesis comprises two parts. The first part details the measurements of φ meson production in the K+K− decay channel in p+p, d+Au and Au+Au collisions at √sNN = 200 GeV using the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider (RHIC). The second part presents a report on the Hadron Blind Detector (HBD) upgrade project for the PHENIX experiment at RHIC.
