skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: First Results of the LHC Longitudinal Density Monitor

Journal Article · · Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A
OSTI ID:1038702

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is the world's largest particle accelerator. It is designed to accelerate and collide protons or heavy ions up to the center-of-mass energies of 14 TeV. Knowledge of the longitudinal distribution of particles is important for various aspects of accelerator operation, in particular to check the injection quality and to measure the proportion of charge outside the nominally filled bunches during the physics periods. In order to study this so-called ghost charge at levels very much smaller than the main bunches, a longitudinal profile measurement with a very high dynamic range is needed. A new detector, the LHC Longitudinal Density Monitor (LDM) is a single-photon counting system measuring synchrotron light by means of an avalanche photodiode detector. The unprecedented energies reached in the LHC allow synchrotron light diagnostics to be used with both protons and heavy ions. A prototype was installed during the 2010 LHC run and was able to longitudinally profile the whole ring with a resolution close to the target of 50 ps. On-line correction for the effects of the detector deadtime, pile-up and afterpulsing allow a dynamic range of 105 to be achieved. First measurements with the LDM are presented here along with an analysis of its performance and an outlook for future upgrades.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1038702
Report Number(s):
SLAC-REPRINT-2012-037; NIMAER; TRN: US1201959
Journal Information:
Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A, Vol. 659, Issue 1; ISSN 0168-9002
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English