A Novel Three-Dimensional Non-Destructive Beam-Monitoring Detector

• Main Authors: Carolina Belver-Aguilar, S. Braccini, Tommaso Stefano Carzaniga, Andreas Gsponer, Philipp Daniel Häffner, Paola Scampoli, Matthias Schmidt
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: 3D beam monitor; beam envelope; particle detector; particle accelerator; cyclotron
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/10/22/8217

A novel three-dimensional non-destructive beam monitor named <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi>π</mi><mn>3</mn></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> was conceived, realized and tested. It is based on a thin aluminum foil coated with P47 scintillating material mounted on a support, together with a miniaturized CCD camera, both moving along the beam axis. This detector allows reconstructing of the beam distribution along the beam path, providing either an on-line video or a graphical reconstruction of the beam envelope in 3D. The <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi>π</mi><mn>3</mn></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> detector is a general-purpose instrument suitable for any ion accelerator facility. As it is constructed with non-magnetic materials, it can be used to investigate the behavior of the beam inside beam optics components such as magnets. In this paper, we report the development of the first prototype of the <inline-formula><math display="inline"><semantics><msup><mi>π</mi><mn>3</mn></msup></semantics></math></inline-formula> detector, its associated software and the results of the beam tests performed at the Bern medical cyclotron laboratory.