Detector Seminar: The new CERN Gamma Irradiation facility GIF++

Thursday 19 Jun 2014, 14:00 → 16:00 Europe/Stockholm

Scheele (ESS Headquarter)

Dorothea Pfeiffer (ESS/CERN) Abstract: The new CERN GIF++ (Gamma Irradiation Facility) in the North Area will replace the existing GIF of the West Area. GIF++ will meet the demand for higher photon radiation fields and will restore the possibility of a simultaneous, secondary muon beam. The current LHC configuration is set up to produce proton­proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV and a luminosity of several 1034 cm­2 s­1. The high luminosity LHC (HL-LHC) project however aims for a tenfold increase in luminosity for 14 TeV proton­proton collisions. Thus at the HL-LHC, the experiments will have to sustain rates 10 times higher than at the LHC. For the muon detectors, studies on particle generation and absorption predict that over most of the acceptance, the rate will be dominated by background due to neutral particles, photons and neutrons with energies below 1 MeV. In the most forward regions the contribution of penetrating particles will be significant, and the rates in the inner forward stations will reach the level of several kHz/cm2. Therefore the detailed knowledge of the performance of detectors under high particle fluxes and a precise understanding of possible ageing of detector materials under permanent particle bombardment are crucial for an optimized design and efficient operation mode. New operating conditions or better-suited detection technologies must be studied. This demands a new series of studies on detector performance and stability, which cannot be carried out at the old GIF facility. The old GIF facility was created in the SPS West Area in the mid 90ies. It combined irradiation by a high-rate 137Cs source, providing a large area flux of photons with a typical energy of 662 keV, together with the availability of high energy SPS secondary charged particle beams. The GIF facility has been used extensively for many years, with scheduled source irradiations during some 50 weeks per year. Despite the disappearance of the West Area beam lines in 2004, the GIF facility is still heavily used to date. However, there is a need for a stronger source and for regaining the possibility to carry out simultaneous detector performance tests with a high-energy beam. To provide continuity with the present GIF, the new gamma-irradiation facility (named GIF++) will contain a 14 TBq Cs-137 source and shall be installed on a SPS secondary beam line.

Slides 20140619_Pfeiffer_GIFpp.pdf 20140619_Pfeiffer_GIFpp.pptx