First results on the SPS beam collimation with bent crystals

Experiments were performed at the CERN SPS with 120 GeV/c stored proton beams to assess the possibility of beam halo collimation assisted by bent crystals. A bent crystal was used to deflect horizontally by an angle of about 170 μrad the beam halo protons in channeling states directing them into a 60 cm long tungsten absorber. The halo loss rate due to nuclear inelastic interactions of protons in the aligned crystal was up to five times smaller than for its amorphous orientation. Channeled fractions, (75±4)% and (85±5)% for the two tested silicon crystals, were measured by intercepting the deflected beam with another collimator located between the crystals and the absorber. The pixel detector (MEDIPIX) installed in a Roman pot inside the beam pipe was used to obtain visual images of the deflected beam.