Beam Current Monitor based on a calorimeter


A "true" calorimeter measuring the temperature rise after being exposed to a beam of a well defined energy for a well defined time can be used for measuring the beam current. Silver is considered the best material for such a calorimeter because of its high thermal conductivity and low radiation length, making the temperature relaxation time short. The calorimeter size was optimized by shower simulation using GEANT3.21. A silver cylinder was considered. The beam spot was point-like. The energy dependence of the response in a range of 1-11 GeV was checked. The results are presented on these plots. The conclusions are as follows: The recommended diameter is about 15cm, providing a 0.6% leak to the sides, and 22-24cm length, providing a 0.1% leak to the front and rear faces, practically independent on the energy. The systematic error of these calculations should not exceed 30% relative. Assuming the error of 30%, one can correct the calorimeter result (by 0.7%, on average) due to the shower leak, with the associated error of 0.2%.
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Last updated: Tue, 11 Aug 2002