Experimental Results of a Gas Jet Based Beam Profile Monitor

A novel, least invasive beam profile monitor based on a supersonic gas jet has been developed by the QUASAR Group at the Cockcroft Institute, UK. It allows the measurement of beam profiles for various particle beams across a range of energies and vacuum levels to be made. A finely collimated neutral gas jet, produced by a nozzle and several skimmers, is injected into a vacuum chamber perpendicular to the main particle beam. Ionization by the primary beam produces ions which are extracted from the interaction region and directed towards an imaging detector. This contribution presents the design of the monitor and first experimental results obtained with a low energy electron beam. It also discusses solutions of previous alignment problems and challenges in the realization of a versatile control and data acquisition system