Non-invasive beam profile monitoring

Highest energy and intensity accelerators require new approaches to transverse beam profile monitoring as many established techniques will no longer work due to the high power stored in their beam. In addition, many accelerator applications such as ion beam cancer therapy or material irradiation would benefit significantly from the availability of non-invasive beam profile monitors. Research in the QUASAR Group has focused on this area over the past 5 years. Two different approaches were successfully developed: Firstly, a supersonic gas jet-based monitor was designed and commissioned. It enables the detection of the 2-dimensional transverse beam profile of essentially any charged particle beam with negligible disturbance of the primary beam and accelerator vacuum. Secondly, a monitor based on the Silicon strip VELO detector, originally developed for the LHCb experiment, was tested as an online beam monitor at the Clatterbridge Cancer Center in the UK. The design of both monitors and results from measurements are presented in this contribution.