A New Beam Loss Monitor Concept Based on Fast Neutron Detection and Very Low Photon Sensitivity

International audienceSuperconductive accelerators may emit X-rays and Gammas mainly due to high electric fields applied on the superconductive cavity surfaces. Indeed, electron emissions will generate photons when electrons impinge on some material. Their energies depend on electron energies, which can be strongly increased by the cavity radio frequency power when it is phase-correlated with the electrons. Such photons present a real problem for Beam Loss Monitor (BLM) systems since no discrimination can be made between cavity contributions and beam loss contributions. Therefore, a new BLM is proposed which is based on gaseous Micromegas detectors, highly sensitive to fast neutrons, not to thermal ones and mostly insensitive to X-rays and Gammas. This detector uses Polyethylene for neutron moderation and the detection is achieved using a 10B or 10B4C converter film with a Micromegas gaseous amplification. Simulations show that detection efficiencies > 8 % are achievable for neutrons with energies between 1 eV and 10 MeV

Space Charge Effects Studies for the ESS Cold Linac Beam Profiler

International audienceFive Ionization Profile Monitors are being built by CEA in the framework of the in-kind contribution agreement signed with ESS. The IPMs will be installed in the Cold Linac where the proton energy range they need to cover extends from 90 MeV to 2 GeV. The ESS fields intensity of 1.10⁺⁰⁹ protons/bunch delivered at a frequency of 352 or 704 MHz, with a duty cycle of 4%, may strongly affect the trajectories of the ionized molecules and electrons created by the passage of the beam through the residual gas. In order to quantify and to develop a correction algorithm for these space charge effects, a code was initiated at ESS and completed at CEA Saclay with the possibility to include real case electric fields calculated with Comsol Multiphysics. A general overview of the code and its preliminary results are presented here

Space Charge Effects Studies for the ESS Cold Linac Beam Profiler

International audienceFive Ionization Profile Monitors are being built by CEA in the framework of the in-kind contribution agreement signed with ESS. The IPMs will be installed in the Cold Linac where the proton energy range they need to cover extends from 90 MeV to 2 GeV. The ESS fields intensity of 1.10⁺⁰⁹ protons/bunch delivered at a frequency of 352 or 704 MHz, with a duty cycle of 4%, may strongly affect the trajectories of the ionized molecules and electrons created by the passage of the beam through the residual gas. In order to quantify and to develop a correction algorithm for these space charge effects, a code was initiated at ESS and completed at CEA Saclay with the possibility to include real case electric fields calculated with Comsol Multiphysics. A general overview of the code and its preliminary results are presented here

A Micromegas Based Neutron Detector for the ESS Beam Loss Monitoring

International audienceBeam loss monitors are of high importance in high-intensity hadron facilities where any energy loss can produce damage or/and activation of materials. A new type of neutron BLM have been developed for hadron accelerators aiming to cover the low energy part. In this region typical BLMs based on charged particle detection are not appropriate because the expected particle fields will be dominated by neutrons and photons. Moreover, the photon background due to the RF cavities can produce false beam loss signals. The BLM proposed is based on gaseous Micromegas detectors, designed to be sensitive to fast neutrons and insensitive to photons (X and gamma). In addition, the detectors will be insensitive to thermal neutrons, since part of them will not be directly correlated to beam loss location. The appropriate configuration of the Micromegas operating conditions will allow excellent timing, intrinsic photon background suppression and individual neutron counting, extending thus the dynamic range to very low particle fluxes. The concept of the detectors and the first results from tests in several facilities will be presented. Moreover, their use in the nBLM ESS system will be also discusse

Characterization and First Beam Loss Detection with One ESS-nBLM System Detector

International audienceThe monitoring of losses is crucial in any accelerator. In the new high intensity hadron facilities even low energy beam can damage or activate the materials so the detection of small losses in this region is very important. A new type of neutron beam loss monitor has been developed specifically targeting this region, where only neutrons and photons can be produced and where typical BLM, based on charged particle detection, could not be appropriate because of the photon background due to the RF cavities. The BLM proposed is based on gaseous Micromegas detectors, designed to be sensitive to fast neutrons and with little sensitivity to photons. Development of the detectors presented here has been done to fulfil the requirements of ESS and they will be part of the ESS-BI systems. The detector has been presented in previous editions of the conference. Here we focus on the neutron/gamma rejection with the final FEE and in the first operation of one of the modules in a beam during the commissioning of LINAC4 (CERN) with the detection of provoked losses and their clear separation from RF gammas. The ESS-nBLM system is presented in this conference in a separate contribution

Non-invasive Profilers for the Cold Part of ESS Accelerator

International audienceSeveral Non-invasive Profile Monitors are being in-stalled along the accelerator to support the commissioning, tuning and operation of the powerful proton based ESS linear accelerator. In the low energy parts of the ESS linac (3.6 MeV to 90 MeV), the residual gas pressure is high enough to measure the transverse beam profile by using fluorescence induced by the beam on the gas molecules. However, in the ESS linac sections above 90 MeV, protons are accelerated by superconductive cavities working at cryogenic temperatures and high vacuum. Therefore, the signal based on the fluorescence process is too weak, while ionization can counteract this drawback. We have provided five IPM (Ionization Profile Monitors) pairs for energies ranging from 100 to 600 MeV. The design of such monitors is challenging due to weak signal (as a result of high proton energy and low pressure <10-9 mbar), tight space constraints inside the vacuum chamber, space charge effect, ISO-5 cleanliness requirement, and electrode polarization at ±15 kV. This publication will detail the development we followed to fulfil the ESS requirements

ESS nBLM: Beam Loss Monitors based on Fast Neutron Detection

International audienceA new type of Beam Loss Monitor (BLM) system is being developed for use in the European Spallation Source (ESS) linac, primarily aiming to cover the low energy part (proton energies between 3-100 MeV). In this region of the linac, typical BLM detectors based on charged particle detection (i.e. Ionization Cham-bers) are not appropriate because the expected particle fields will be dominated by neutrons and photons. Another issue is the photon background due to the RF cavities, which is mainly due to field emission from the electrons from the cavity walls, resulting in brems-strahlung photons. The idea for the ESS neutron sensi-tive BLM system (ESS nBLM) is to use Micromegas detectors specially designed to be sensitive to fast neutrons and insensitive to low energy photons (X and gammas). In addition, the detectors must be insensitive to thermal neutrons, because those neutrons may not be directly correlated to beam losses. The appropriate configuration of the Micromegas operating conditions will allow excellent timing, intrinsic photon back-ground suppression and individual neutron counting, extending thus the dynamic range to very low particle fluxes