R&D proposal for a fast and radiation hard crystal calorimeter at LHC

Homogeneous crystal calorimeters are so far the best in terms of energy resolution and compactness. Large scale detectors have been built for several experiments and the engineering problems are well understood. One of these crystals, BaF2, is already well known as a fast and radiation hard scintillator. From our systematic studies of scintillation properties and radiation damage mechanisms of several scintillators, we believe that a complete family of fluorides crystals or glasses should behave like BaF2, but with a shorter radiation length and no slow component. The purpose of this R&D program is to study these materials in order to design a fast, compact, precise and radiation hard electromagnetic calorimeter for the LHC.