Beam induced fluorescence monitor - Spectroscopy in Nitrogen, Helium, Argon, Krypton and Xenon gas

As conventional intercepting diagnostics will not withstand high intensity ion beams, Beam Induced Fluorescence (BIF) profile monitors constitute a preeminent alternative for non-intercepting profile measurements [1]. This diagnostic technique makes use of the optical fluorescence emission of beam-excited gases. Recently BIF became an important diagnostic tool for transversal beam profile measurements with applicability in beam tuning over a wide range of beams and accelerator conditions [2]. In this paper optical VIS-spectroscopy with an imaging spectrograph for 5 MeV/u proton, S⁶⁺ and Ta²⁴⁺ beams in nitrogen, Xe, Kr, Ar, Ne and He at 10 ^-3 mbar gas pressure is presented. Atomic physics processes are a major performance issue, since they determine transition intensities and lifetimes of excited states. Further investigations are required to improve the detector performance and increase its range of application.