Study of leakage currents in pCVD diamonds as function of the magnetic field

TL;DR

This study investigates how magnetic fields influence leakage currents in pCVD diamond sensors, revealing that magnetic fields can both suppress erratic currents and increase regular leakage currents depending on orientation and strength.

Contribution

It provides a systematic analysis of magnetic field effects on leakage currents in pCVD diamonds, including a preliminary explanatory model.

Findings

Erratic leakage currents decrease in magnetic fields.

Leakage currents without erratic behavior increase with perpendicular magnetic fields up to 0.6T.

At higher fields, leakage currents decrease.

Abstract

pCVD diamond sensors are regularly used as beam loss monitors in accelerators by measuring the ionization of the lost particles. In the past these beam loss monitors showed sudden increases in the dark leakage current without beam losses and these erratic leakage currents were found to decrease, if magnetic fields were present. Here we report on a systematic study of leakage currents inside a magnetic field. The decrease of erratic currents in a magnetic field was confirmed. On the contrary, diamonds without erratic currents showed an increase of the leakage current in a magnetic field perpendicular to the electric field for fields up to 0.6T, for higher fields it decreases. A preliminary model is introduced to explain the observations.