HIT, Heidelberg, Germany
German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
The Heidelberg Ion-Beam Therapy Center (HIT) pro-vides proton, helium, and carbon-ion beams with differ-ent energies and intensities for cancer treatment and oxy-gen-ion beams for experimentation. Below the intensities used for therapy, low-intensity ion beams (below 1·105 ions/s) are available for various experiments via manual-ly degrading of the beam. Since there is no built-in beam profile instrumentation device for this intensity region, the development of a transverse ion beam profile monitor for these intensities is therefore of interest. The principle of operation is based on scintillating fibres, particularly those with enhanced radiation hardness. The fibres transform the deposited energy of a traversing ion into photons, which are then converted and amplified via silicon pho-tomultipliers (SiPMs) into electric pulses. These pulses are recorded and processed by a novel and dedicated readout electronics: the front-end readout system (FERS) A5200 by CAEN. A prototype set-up consisting of all the above-mentioned parts was tested in beam and has proven to record the transverse beam profile successfully from intensities of 1·107 ions/s down to 1·102 ions/s.
