A Micromegas Based Neutron Detector for the ESS Beam Loss Monitoring

Abstract

Beam loss monitors are of high importance in high-intensity hadron facilities where any energy loss can produce damage or/and activation of materials. A new type of neutron BLM have been developed for hadron accelerators aiming to cover the low energy part. In this region typical BLMs based on charged particle detection are not appropriate because the expected particle fields will be dominated by neutrons and photons. Moreover, the photon background due to the RF cavities can produce false beam loss signals. The BLM proposed is based on gaseous Micromegas detectors, designed to be sensitive to fast neutrons and insensitive to photons (X and gamma). In addition, the detectors will be insensitive to thermal neutrons, since part of them will not be directly correlated to beam loss location. The appropriate configuration of the Micromegas operating conditions will allow excellent timing, intrinsic photon background suppression and individual neutron counting, extending thus the dynamic range to very low particle fluxes. The concept of the detectors and the first results from tests in several facilities will be presented. Moreover, their use in the nBLM ESS system will be also discussed