A novel diamond-based beam position monitoring system for the High Radiation to Materials facility at CERN SPS

The High Radiation to Materials facility employs a high intensity pulsed beam imposing several challenges on the beam position monitors. Diamond has been shown to be a resilient material with its radiation hardness and mechanical strength, while it is also simple due to its wide bandgap removing the need for doping. A new type of diamond based beam position monitor has been constructed, which includes a hole in the center of the diamond where the majority of the beam is intended to pass through. This increases the longevity of the detectors as well as allowing them to be used for high intensity beams. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the performance of the detectors in the High Radiation to Materials facility for various beam parameters, involving differences in position, size, bunch intensity and bunch number. A prestudy consisting of calibration of the detectors using single incident particles is also presented. The detectors are shown to work as intended after a recalibration of the algorithm, albeit with a slightly lower precision than requested, giving a promising new beam position monitoring system. They work for the full intensity range and a single bunch resolution is achieved. Functionality is also shown with backscattering from dense targets.