• I. Efthymiopoulos, A. Fabich, A. Grudiev, F. Haug, J. Lettry, M. Palm, H. Pereira, H. Pernegger, R.R. Steerenberg
  CERN, Geneva
• J.R.J. Bennett
  STFC/RAL/ASTeC, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon
• O. Caretta, P. Loveridge
  STFC/RAL, Chilton, Didcot, Oxon
• A.J. Carroll, V.B. Graves, P.T. Spampinato
  ORNL, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
• H.G. Kirk, H. Park, T. Tsang
  BNL, Upton, Long Island, New York
• K.T. McDonald
  PU, Princeton, New Jersey
• N.V. Mokhov, S.I. Striganov
  Fermilab, Batavia

The MERIT experiment is a proof-of-principle test of a target system for high power proton beam to be used as front-end for a neutrino factory complex or a muon collider. The experiment took data in autumn 2007 with the fast extracted beam from the CERN Proton Synchrotron (PS) to a maximum intensity of about 30·10¹² protons per pulse. We report results from the portion of the MERIT experiment in which separated beam pulses were delivered to a free mercury jet target with time intervals between pulses varying from 2 to 700 microseconds. The analysis is based on the responses of particle detectors placed along side and downstream of the target.