Vibrating wires for beam diagnostics

A new approach to the technique of particle beam scanning by wires has been developed. The novelty of the method is that the wire heating quantity is used as a source of information about the number of interacting particles. The wire heating measurement is performed as a change of the wire natural oscillation frequency. The excitation of wire natural oscillations is provided by interaction of a current through the wire with a permanent magnetic field. A shift in the wire natural oscillation frequency characterizes the change in the conditions of wire irradiation by the measured beam. By the rigid fixing of the wire ends on the support an unprecedented sensitivity of the frequency to the temperature and to the corresponding flux of colliding particles is obtained. The range of frequencies used (about 10 kHz) and characteristic time of heat transfer limit the speed characteristics of the proposed scanning method; however, the high sensitivity makes it a prospective one for investigation of beam halo and weak beam scanning. Traditional beam profile monitors generally focus on the beam core and loose sensitivity in the halo region where a large dynamic range of detection is necessary. The scanning by a vibrating wire can also be used in profiling and detecting of neutron and photon beams.