Speaker
Description
Time-of-flight (TOF) measurements are superior to other methods of measuring beam energy, since the quantity being measured is directly related to the velocity, and therefore the kinetic energy, of the particles. Conventional TOF systems use independent sensors in the beam transport system, each with a separate signal path to the measuring electronics. The difference in signal delay between the paths introduces an absolute error in the measured time. Increasing the flight time can help to reduce the impact of this error. For this reason, a flight path length of several metres is usually applied between the sensors.
A novel method and device have been developed for accurate TOF measurements on a base as short as 20 cm. Two capacitive pickups in a common mechanical structure with an additional electrode are used. The signals from the probes are combined within the vacuum chamber, resulting in a single signal path from the sensor unit to the measuring electronics. Digital signal processing (DSP) is used to determine the distance between the pulses generated by a beam bunch on the probes. The construction details of the sensor unit and the applied digital signal processing (DSP) method, as well as the accuracy of the measurements achieved when operating with accelerated beams from a cyclotron, will be presented.
| Paper status | Proceeding files received |
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