Beam loss monitoring in the ISIS synchrotron main dipole magnets
Harryman DM., Fisher SA., Frank WA., Jones B., Pertica A., Posthuma De Boer DW., Wilcox CC.
Copyright © 2018 by JACoW — cc Creative Commons Attribution 3.0. Beam loss monitoring at the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source is primarily carried out with gas ionisation chambers filled with argon. Thirty-nine ionisation chambers are distributed evenly around the inner radius of the synchrotron, with additional devices for the linac and beam transport lines. To improve loss control, a programme has been implemented to install six scintillator Beam Loss Monitors (BLMs), each 300 mm long, inside each of the ten main dipole magnets of the synchrotron. Using these scintillator BLMs the accelerator can be fine-tuned to reduce areas of beam loss that were previously unseen or hard to characterise. Installation of the system is now complete and this paper reviews: the installation of the scintillator BLMs, the electronic hardware and software used to control them, and the initial measurements that have been taken using them.