A precise measurement of absolute beam intensity is essential for many experiments. It is a key parameter to monitor losses in a beam and to calibrate the absolute number of particles delivered to the experiments. However, this type of measurement is very challenging with traditional beam current diagnostics when it comes to low energy, low intensity beams due to the very low signal levels.
The PhD student Miguel Fernandes and Prof Carsten Welsch, from the QUASAR Group – Cockcroft Institute, have now experimentally demonstrated a new type of monitor in collaboration with CERN, the GSI Helmholtz Centre for Heavy Ion Research and Friedrich Schiller University and Helmholtz Institute Jena.
In an open access paper just published in the IOP “Superconducting Science and Technology” journal, the QUASAR members Miguel Fernandes and Prof Welsch, together with their co-authors, describe the challenges of implementation and first beam measurements. These are the first-ever beam current measurements performed with a Cryogenic Current Comparator in a synchrotron using both coasting and short bunched beams. The paper demonstrates the exciting prospects of this new type of beam diagnostics device.
Further information: M. Fernandes, et al., Non-perturbative measurement of low-intensity charged particle beams, Superconductor Science and Technology, Volume 30, Number 1 (2016).