Fast Beam Current Change Monitor for the LHC

Stringent demands on the LHC safety and protection systems require improved methods of detecting fast beam losses. The Fast Beam Current Transformer (FBCT) is a measurement instrument, providing information about bunch-to-bunch intensity of the accelerated beam. This thesis describes the development of a new protection system based on the FBCT signal measurements. This system, the Fast Beam Current Change Monitor (FBCCM), measures the FBCT signal in a narrow frequency band and computes time derivation of the beam signal magnitude. This derivation is proportional to the beam losses. When the losses exceed a certain level, the FBCCM requests a beam dump in order to protect the LHC. The LHC protection will be ensured by four FBCCMs which will be installed into the LHC in July 2014. Six FBCCMs have been already constructed and their characteristics were measured with satisfactory results. The FBCCMs were tested by a laboratory simulation of the real LHC environment.