Development of a beam-gas curtain profile monitor for the high luminosity upgrade of the LHC

High luminosity upgrades to the LHC at CERN and future high-energy frontier machines will require a new generation of minimally invasive profile measurement instruments. Production of a dense, focussed gas target allows beam-gas fluorescence to be exploited as an observable, giving an instrument suitable for installation even in regions of high magnetic field. This paper describes the development of a device based on these principles that would be suitable for operation in the LHC. It focusses on mechanisms for the production of a homogeneous gas curtain, the selection of an appropriate working gas and the optical fluorescence detection system