What are you doing, Mr X? Part 6
This week’s Mr. X is Edward Martin. Edward joined the Quasar group in October 2016. His research focusses on the development of a non-invasive beam profile monitor through the formation and shaping of a cold (<20 K) supersonic gas jet. The gas jet is skimmed into a screen (curtain) shape that will intercept and interact with a particle beam, after which it is then collected and extracted without damaging the vacuum in the beamline. This concept is extremely versatile and can be adapted for use with a wide range of high and low energy beams. The gas screen acts in the same way as a normal scintillation screen would, being excited by the incoming particles and emitting light which is then recorded through an optical system. Although with the gas jet there are the added advantages of there being very little interaction between the gas and the beam, so properties of the beam can be measured without it having an impact on the beam itself and it not being a solid screen, therefore cannot be damaged by high energy beams like conventional beam profile monitors.
The project is a collaboration between The Cockcroft Institute, CERN and GSI.
In the picture Mr. X can be seen re-installing part of the support frame that was removed during the recent move to the new lab.