Characterisation of muon and proton beam monitors based on scintillating fibres with a SiPM read-out

Beam hodoscopes based on 32 x 32 square polystyrene scintillating fibres along X/Y, having section 3 x 3 mm2 or 1 x 1 mm2, have been designed and characterised for monitoring low-energy charged particle beams. Each fibre is read by a SiPM and the signal is digitised and analysed off-line. Hodoscopes were exposed to the 60 MeV/c negative muon beam at Port 1 of the RIKEN-RAL muon facility (UK), where they proved to be good to determine the beam profile and its intensity, via a calibration with cosmic muons. Furthermore, the exposition to the calibrated single-proton beam at CNAO (Italy), in the momentum range between 340 MeV/c and 690 MeV/c, provided further calibration in dE/dx and showed the feasibility of the detector as an instrument for proton beam characterisation too. These hodoscopes will be used as negative muon beam monitors for the FAMU experiment at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, but the possibility of using them as a beam monitor in hadron therapy has also been investigated.

Automated summary

Beam hodoscopes based on 32 x 32 square polystyrene scintillating fibres have been designed for monitoring low-energy charged particle beams. The hodoscopes showed good performance in determining beam profile and intensity, and calibration with cosmic muons and single-proton beams further validated their feasibility. These hodoscopes will be used as beam monitors in the FAMU experiment and have potential applications in hadron therapy.