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The UA9 setup, installed in the Super Proton Synchrotron (SPS) at CERN, was exploited for a proof of principle of the double-crystal scenario, proposed to measure the electric and the magnetic moments of short-lived baryons in a high-energy hadron collider, such as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Linear and angular actuators were used to position the crystals and establish the required beam configuration. Timepix detectors and high-sensitivity Beam Loss Monitors were exploited to observe the deflected beams. Linear and angular scans allowed exploring the particle interactions with the two crystals and recording their efficiency. The measured values of the beam trajectories, profiles and of the channeling efficiency agree with the results of a Monte-Carlo simulation., 25 pages, 13 figures

International audience; Experiments to measure the electric and the magnetic moments of short-lived baryons using an internal target and two bent crystals in the vicinity of one of the existing LHC detectors were recently proposed, in the frame of the Physics Beyond Colliders Working Group at CERN. Investigating fixed-target physics in the LHC with in-vacuum solid targets is an unprecedented challenge. As a preparatory step, the layout of the UA9 experiment, installed in the CERN SPS to explore beam manipulations assisted by bent crystals, has been modified to study the feasibility of the double-crystal scenario in a circular accelerator. Ideally, the first crystal should capture halo protons in channeling states directing them onto the internal target to produce rare baryons, whilst the second crystal, located just downstream of the target, should channel the baryons, rotate their polarization vector and deflect them towards the detector area. The upgraded UA9 layout is presented. Preliminary measurements providing an insight of the beam behavior are reported.

Strong reduction of multiple scattering for channeled particles has been observed in an experiment on the deflection of a 180 GeV/c π+-meson beam by bent silicon crystals. The RMS deflections due to multiple scattering for the channeled particles were about six times smaller than for non-channeled ones. It was shown that the approach suggested recently for the description of multiple scattering for channeled particles using the experimental data for random crystal orientations gives fair agreement with the experiment. Keywords: Crystal, Channeling, Multiple scattering, Dechanneling, Beam deflection

International audience; At large accelerators, bent crystals are employed to deflect weakly divergent proton beams at the stages of extraction and collimation. We demonstrate that a divergent particle beam may be efficiently deflected using a crystal with a focusing entry face. A 180 GeV/c pion beam with divergence near 0.060 mrad, which exceeds the Lindhard angle by a factor of 4, has been experimentally deflected by 0.25 mrad with efficiency near 22%. The proposed focusing crystal may serve as an element of a novel particle optics for secondary-particle beams in the TeV energy region.

Experimental results on deflection of a 180 GeV/c π+-meson beam by a 23 mm long bent silicon crystal are analyzed to study the dechanneling process of particles due to multiple scattering. A new approach for the determination of contributions from atomic nuclei and electrons to the multiple scattering using the experimental data for random crystal orientations is suggested. The results of simulations performed using this approach, in which the contribution from atomic electrons is considered according to the prescription of Bethe, are in a good agreement with the experiment.

Inelastic nuclear interaction probability of 400 GeV/c protons interacting with bent silicon crystals was investigated, in particular for both types of crystals installed at the CERN Large Hadron Collider for beam collimation purposes. In comparison to amorphous scattering interaction, in planar channeling this probability is \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sim 36\%$$\end{document}∼36% for the quasi-mosaic type (planes (111)), and \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sim 27\%$$\end{document}∼27% for the strip type (planes (110)). Moreover, the absolute inelastic nuclear interaction probability in the axial channeling orientation, along the \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\langle 110\rangle $$\end{document}⟨110⟩ axis, was estimated for the first time, finding a value of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$0.6\%$$\end{document}0.6% for a crystal 2 mm long along the beam direction, with a bending angle of 55 \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\upmu $$\end{document}μrad. This value is more than two times lower with respect to the planar channeling orientation of the same crystal, and increases with the vertical angular misalignment. Finally, the correlation between the inelastic nuclear interaction probability in the planar channeling and the silicon crystal curvature is reported.

International audience; Recent discussions about accelerators in high energy physics identified several challenges for the future, where it is necessary to focus particle beams over a distance of a few cm. In this paper, we investigate the focusing of particles by a new crystal device having such a capability. The trajectories of 180 GeV/ c pions passing through a 500 µm thick focusing crystal were reconstructed using silicon microstrip detectors. It is shown that a parallel beam of particles can be focused in one plane at a distance of 15.5 cm from the crystal, in a narrow line with an rms width of 8 µm.

International audience; This paper is devoted to an experimental study of focusing and defocusing positively charged particle beams with the help of specially bent single crystals. Four crystals have been fabricated for this purpose. The studies have been performed at the CERN SPS in 400 GeV/c proton and 180 GeV/c pion beams. The results of measurements of beam envelopes are presented. The rms size of the horizontal profile at the focus was 5–8 times smaller than at the exit of the crystals. The measured focal lengths were 4–21 m. The results of measurements are in good agreement with calculations. Possible applications of focusing crystals in present and future high energy accelerators are discussed.

International audience; The ordered positions of atoms in crystals give a reason to study multiple Coulomb scattering of high energy charged particles within them. In addition, the accurate representation of multiple scattering of high energy protons in a bent crystal is important for studies of crystal assisted collimation at the SPS and the LHC. Multiple scattering of 400 GeV/c protons in bent silicon crystals was measured for orientations far from the directions of main crystallographic planes and axes in conditions excluding channeling of protons. The observed RMS widths of the angular distributions are a little larger than those obtained from the Moliere theory. Simulation of multiple scattering in a model of binary collisions with the crystal atoms shows about 3.5% decrease of the RMS deflection with respect to the model of a sequence of random collisions. We consider this as a possible indication of a reduction of multiple scattering of protons in a crystal in comparison with its amorphous state.

We studied the dechanneling length of 150 GeV / c π − interacting with a short bent silicon crystal. Dechanneling length measures the rate and the strength of incoherent interactions of channeled particles in a crystal. The mechanism of dechanneling of negatively charged particles has been elucidated through simulation and experiment. It was found that the dechanneling length for negative particles is comparable to the nuclear dechanneling length for positive charges. Indeed, dechanneling of negative particles occurs as a result of incoherent interactions with the nuclei because the trajectories of such particles always intersect atomic planes, explaining the lower channeling efficiency for such particles. Obtained results can be useful for the design of crystals for manipulating high-energy negative particle beams through channeling.

A deflection efficiency of about 61 % was observed for 400 GeV/c protons due to channeling, most strongly along the 〈110〉 axis of a bent silicon crystal. It is comparable with the deflection efficiency in planar channeling and considerably larger than in the case of the 〈111〉 axis. The measured probability of inelastic nuclear interactions of protons in channeling along the 〈110〉 axis is only about 10 % of its amorphous level whereas in channeling along the (110) planes it is about 25 % . High efficiency deflection and small beam losses make this axial orientation of a silicon crystal a useful tool for the beam steering of high energy charged particles.

Two high-accuracy goniometers equipped with two bent silicon crystals were installed in the betatron cleaning insertion of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) during its long shutdown. First beam tests were recently performed at the LHC with 450 GeV/c and 6500 GeV/c stored proton beams to investigate the feasibility of beam halo collimation assisted by bent crystals. For the first time channeling of 6500 GeV/c protons was observed in a particle accelerator. A strong reduction of beam losses due to nuclear inelastic interactions in the aligned crystal in comparison with its amorphous orientation was detected. The loss reduction value was about 24. Thus, the results show that deflection of particles by a bent crystal due to channeling is effective for this record particle energy., peer-reviewed

Channeling in a short bent silicon crystal was investigated at the CERN SPS using 400-GeV/c protons with an angular spread much narrower than the critical channeling angle. Particle dechanneling due to multiple scattering on the atomic nuclei of the crystal was observed and its dechanneling length was measured to be about 1.5 mm. For a crystal with length comparable to such dechanneling length, an efficiency of 83.4% was recorded, which is close to the maximum value expected for a parallel beam and exceeds the previously known limitation of deflection efficiency for long crystals.

The emission of photons in the motion of a 10-GeV positron beam in bent silicon crystals has been experimentally investigated. The experimental data are compared with the theoretical calculations.

The volume reflection of 1-GeV protons by a bent crystal has been observed. The crystal is made of single crystal silicon. The (111) atomic planes are bent owing to the elastic quasimosaicity effect, which makes it possible to reduce the crystal length for a beam to 30 µm. It is found that the probability of the reflection effect is higher than the probability of the channeling effect (0.71 vs. 0.63), and the deflection angle of the protons reflected inside the crystal is equal to 1.39 ± 0.04 in terms of the critical angle for channeling under the conditions of the experiment (170 µrad). The width of the reflected peak is equal to 1.76 ± 0.04 in the same units. The protons that are not involved in channeling at the angular position of maximum channeling undergo volume reflection and are deflected in the direction opposite to the channeled beam by the angle 1.01 ± 0.05 in terms of the critical angle for channeling. The width of the reflected peak is equal to 1.94 ± 0.08 in the same units.

Accelerator-based sources of hard-photon radiation are a rapidly developing field. Coherent radiation of a particle beam in an undulator is a popular choice. The crystalline undulators with periodically deformed crystallographic planes offer electromagnetic fields of the order of 1000 T and could provide a period L in the sub-millimeter range. In this way, a hundred-fold gain in the energy of emitted photons would be reached, as compared to a usual undulator. The first real construction of a crystal channeling undulator was recently proposed and realised by the present collaboration. After the sine-like deformation of crystal was proven in X-ray tests, four undulators were tested for channeling in a beam of 70-GeV protons. It was observed in the experiment that the crystal cross-section is efficiently channeling high energy particles, similarly to usual crystal deflectors. The experimentally established transparence for channeling of high energy particles allows one to start a direct experiment on photon production from a positron beam in the crystalline undulator. Details of commissioning of the experimental setup in the first run with 3 GeV positron beam are presented.

A record-high particle extraction efficiency, exceeding 40%, in agreement with theoretical predictions, is achieved using a short (5 mm long) crystal bent by 1.5 mrad. An extracted beam intensity of ∼6×1011 protons per cycle is obtained. This is five to six orders of magnitude higher than previous results.

A radical increase in the efficiency of beam extraction from an accelerator is achieved with a short (7 mm long) crystal bent by a small angle (1.7 mrad) by increasing the number of times particles pass through the crystal. A particle extraction efficiency of ~20%, in agreement with the prediction of the theory, was achieved experimentally. A record high intensity of the extracted beam 1.9×1011 protons per cycle, which is four orders of magnitude higher than previous results, is obtained.

A considerable elastic quasi-mosaicity effect has been observed upon the diffraction of x-rays on a bent silicon single-crystal plate. It has been shown that the effect depends on the choice of reflecting crystallographic planes and the orientation of the plate cut. The effect can be applied to improve the characteristics of silicon single-crystal monochromators of electromagnetic radiation and silicon single-crystal deflectors of charged-particle beams.

Multiple volume reflection by different planes passing through the 〈111〉 axis in a bent silicon crystal was observed for the first time for 150 GeV/c negative particles, π- mesons, at one of the secondary beams of the CERN SPS. The beam of π- mesons was deflected opposite to the crystal bend by an angle of about 48 μrad, which is 4.6 times larger than in a single volume reflection by the (110) bent planes. The one-side deflection efficiency was about 65%. Multiple volume reflection transforms to a single volume reflection when the orientation angle of the 〈111〉 axis relative to the beam direction is increased. Copyright © 2011 Europhysics Letters Association.

Different kinds of deflection in a silicon crystal bent along the 〈111〉 axis was observed for 150 GeV/ c negative particles, mainly π − mesons, at one of the secondary beams of the CERN SPS. The whole beam was deflected to one side in quasi-bound states of doughnut scattering (DSB) by atomic strings with the efficiency (95.4 ± 0.2)% and with the peak position close to the bend crystal angle, α = 185 μrad . It was observed volume capture of π − mesons into the DSB states with a probability higher than 7%. A beam deflection opposite to the crystal bend was observed for some orientations of the crystal axis due to doughnut scattering and subsequent multiple volume reflections of π − mesons by different bent planes crossing the axis.

Multiple volume reflections of the 400 GeV / c proton beam by the sequence of fourteen bent silicon strips has been studied at the CERN SPS. The sequence is close to be parallel that is the spread of the strip orientation angles is much smaller than their bend angle and eleven strips working coherently in the regime of volume reflections deflected the beam by 110 μrad with the efficiency 88%, which is significantly larger than the estimation based on independent reflections. The mechanism giving the efficiency increase has been studied by simulation. It appears that many particles volume captured in one of the strips take part in volume reflections in the subsequent ones. Such a crystal multi reflector can be successfully used as a primary collimator for the beam halo collimation of high-energy accelerators.

The radiation emitted by $180\ensuremath{-}\mathrm{GeV}∕c$ volume-reflected electrons and positrons impinging on a bent crystal has been measured by the H8RD22 Collaboration on the H8 beamline at the CERN SPS. A dedicated spectrometer has been developed to measure high-energy photon spectra (up to $\ensuremath{\sim}100\phantom{\rule{0.3em}{0ex}}\mathrm{GeV}$) under volume reflection: photon and charged particle beams have been separated by a bending magnet and leptons were detected and tagged by microstrip silicon detectors and a Pb-scintillator sampling calorimeter. A comparison between the experimental and analytical data for the amorphous and volume-reflection cases is presented and the differences are discussed.

Multiple volume reflection by different planes in a bent silicon crystal with its 〈111〉 axis orientation close to the beam direction was observed for the first time for 400 GeV/c protons at the CERN SPS. The proton beam was deflected to the side opposite to the crystal bend by an angle of about 67 μrad, which is five times larger than in a single volume reflection by the (110) bent planes. The registered efficiency of one side deflection was about 84%. It was shown that multiple volume reflection transforms to a single volume reflection when the orientation angle of the 〈111〉 axis relative to the beam direction is increased.

Deflection due to planar channeling and volume reflection in short bent silicon crystals was observed for the first time for 150 GeV / c negative particles, π − mesons, at one of the secondary beams of the CERN SPS. The deflection efficiency was about 30% for channeling and higher than 80% for volume reflection. Volume reflection occurs, in spite of the attractive character of the forces acting between the particles and the crystal planes, in a wide angular range of the crystal orientations determined by the crystal bend angle.

Deflection due to axial channeling in a silicon crystal bent along the 〈111〉 axis was observed for 150 GeV/c negative particles, mainly π − mesons, at one of the secondary beams of the CERN SPS. The whole beam was deflected to one side with the efficiency of about 90% and with the peak position at the bend crystal angle α = 43 μrad . The deflection occurs mainly due to doughnut scattering of above-barrier particles by the atomic strings of the crystal. However, due to a high probability of particle recapture into bound states with the atomic strings their contribution to the deflection should be about 15% for our case according to simulation results.

The trend of volume reflection parameters (deflection angle and efficiency) in a bent (110) silicon crystal has been investigated as a function of the crystal curvature with 400 GeV/c protons on the H8 beam line at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. This Letter describes the analysis performed at six different curvatures showing that the optimal radius for volume reflection is approximately 10 times greater than the critical radius for channeling. A strong scattering of the beam by the planar potential is also observed for a bend radius close to the critical one.

This paper presents a detailed study of the deflection phenomena of a $400\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{GeV}/c$ proton beam impinging on a new generation of bent silicon crystals; the tests have been performed at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron H8 beam line. Channeling and volume reflection angles are measured with an extremely precise goniometer and with high resolution silicon microstrip detectors. Volume reflection has been observed and measured for the first time at this energy, with a single-pass efficiency as large as 98%, in good agreement with the simulation results. This efficiency makes volume reflection a possible candidate for collimation with bent crystals at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

This paper presents a detailed study of the deflection phenomena of a 400 GeV/c proton beam impinging on a new generation of bent silicon crystals; the tests have been performed at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron H8 beam line. Channeling and volume reflection angles are measured with an extremely precise goniometer and with high resolution silicon microstrip detectors. Volume reflection has been observed and measured for the first time at this energy, with a single-pass efficiency as large as 98%, in good agreement with the simulation results. This efficiency makes volume reflection a possible candidate for collimation with bent crystals at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

The doubling of the angle of beam deflection due to volume reflection of protons by a sequence of two bent silicon crystals was experimentally observed at the 400 GeV proton beam of the CERN SPS. A similar sequence of short bent crystals can be used as an efficient primary collimator for the Large Hadron Collider.

A high performance apparatus has been designed and built by the H8-RD22 collaboration for the study of channeling and volume reflection phenomena in the interaction of 400 GeV/c protons with bent silicon crystals, during the 2006 data taking in the external beamline H8 of the CERN SPS. High-quality silicon short crystals were bent by either anticlastic or quasimosaic effects. Alignment with the highly parallel (8 murad divergence) proton beam was guaranteed through a submicroradian goniometric system equipped with both rotational and translational stages. Particle tracking was possible by a series of silicon microstrip detectors with high-resolution and a parallel plate gas chamber, triggered by various scintillating detectors located along the beamline. Experimental observation of volume reflection with 400 GeV/c protons proved true with a deflection angle of (10.4+/-0.5) murad with respect to the unperturbed beam, with a silicon crystal whose (111) planes were parallel to the beam.

Beam deflection due to axial channeling in a silicon crystal bent along the < 111 > axis was observed with 400 GeV/c protons at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. The condition for doughnut scattering of protons by the atomic strings of the crystal was attained. Such a condition allowed one to observe a beam deflection of 50 mu rad with about 30% efficiency. The contribution of hyperchanneled states of protons to the observed beam deflection was less than 2% according to simulation results.

For the new generation of high intensity hadronic machines as, for instance, LHC, halo collimation is a necessary issue for the accelerator to operate at the highest possible luminosity and to prevent the damage of superconductor magnets. We propose an experiment aimed to systematic study of the channeling phenomenology and of the newly observed "volume reflection" effect. This experiment will be performed for an external SPS beamline and will make use of a primary proton beam with 400 GeV/c momentum and very small (∼ 3 μ rad) divergence. The advantage of a proposed experiment is precise tracking of particles that interacted with a crystal, so that to determine the single-pass effciency for all the processes involved. For this purpose, a telescope equipped with high-resolution silicon microstrip detectors will be used. New generation silicon crystals and an extra-precise goniometer are mandatory issues. Main goal of the experiment is to get the precise information on channeling of relativistic particles and, ultimately, on the feasibility of such technique for halo collimation at LHC. In this contribution we review the status of the setting-up of experimental apparatus and its future development in sight of the planned run in September 2006.© (2007) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

The volume reflection phenomenon was detected while investigating 400 GeV proton interactions with bent silicon crystals in the external beam H8 of the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. Such a process was observed for a wide interval of crystal orientations relative to the beam axis, and its efficiency exceeds 95%, thereby surpassing any previously observed value. These observations suggest new perspectives for the manipulation of high-energy beams, e.g., for collimation and extraction in new-generation hadron colliders, such as the CERN Large Hadron Collider.

A series of Silicon crystal undulator samples were produced based on the approach presented in PRL 90 (2003) 034801, with the periods of undulation from 0.1 mm to 1 mm, and the number of periods on the order of 10. The samples were characterized by X-rays, revealing the sine-like shape of the crystal lattice in the bulk. Next step in the characterization has been the channeling tests done with 70 GeV protons, where good channeling properties of the undulated Silicon lattice have been observed. The photon radiation tests of crystal undulators with high energy positrons are in progress on several locations: IHEP Protvino, LNF Frascati, and CERN SPS. The progress in the experimental activities and the predictions from detailed simulations are reported.

The technique of beam focusing by a bent crystal is described and results from its application presented in this note. A 70 GeV 2 mm wide proton beam was deflected and focused into a narrow 200 μm wide strip.

Erratum to : "Double volume reflection of a proton beam by a sequence of two bent crystals" [Phys. Lett. B 658 (2008) 109] (DOI:10.1016/j.physletb.2007.10.070)

A crystalline undulator (CU) with periodically deformed crystallographic planes is capable of deflecting charged particles with the same strength as an equivalent magnetic field of 1000 T and could provide quite a short period L in the sub-millimeter range. We present an idea for creation of a CU and report its first realization. One face of a silicon crystal was given periodic micro-scratches (grooves), with a period of 1 mm, by means of a diamond blade. The X-ray tests of the crystal deformation have shown that a sinusoidal-like shape of crystalline planes goes through the bulk of the crystal. This opens up the possibility for experiments with high-energy particles channeled in CU, a novel compact source of radiation. The first experiment on photon emission in CU has been started at LNF with 800 MeV positrons aiming to produce 50 keV undulator photons., Comment: Presented at PAC 2003 (Portland, May 12-16)

We present an idea for creation of a crystalline undulator and report its first realization. One face of a silicon crystal was given periodic micro-scratches (trenches) by means of a diamond blade. The X-ray tests of the crystal deformation due to given periodic pattern of surface scratches have shown that a sinusoidal shape is observed on both the scratched surface and the opposite (unscratched) face of the crystal, that is, a periodic sinusoidal deformation goes through the bulk of the crystal. This opens up the possibility for experiments with high-energy particles channeled in crystalline undulator, a novel compact source of radiation., Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures

Using channeling in a 5-mm crystal with a bending angle of 1.5 mrad, a radical increase in the efficiency of beam extraction from accelerator was achieved due to an increased number of particle encounters with crystal. The measured world-highest efficiency of crystal extraction, over 40%, is in good agreement with theory predictions. The extracted beam intensity of 6×1011 ppp was obtained, five orders of magnitude higher than previous results.