A study of high-energy proton induced damage in Cerium Fluoride in comparison with measurements in Lead Tungstate calorimeter crystals

TL;DR

This study investigates proton-induced damage and recovery in Cerium Fluoride crystals used in calorimetry, comparing experimental results with Lead Tungstate and Monte Carlo simulations to understand damage mechanisms.

Contribution

It provides new experimental data on high-energy proton damage and recovery in Cerium Fluoride, and compares these with Lead Tungstate and simulation results.

Findings

Proton irradiation causes measurable damage and partial spontaneous recovery in Cerium Fluoride.

Comparison shows differences in damage levels between Cerium Fluoride and Lead Tungstate.

Monte Carlo simulations qualitatively match experimental damage patterns.

Abstract

A Cerium Fluoride crystal produced during early R&D studies for calorimetry at the CERN Large Hadron Collider was exposed to a 24 GeV/c proton fluence Phi_p=(2.78 +- 0.20) x 10EE13 cm-2 and, after one year of measurements tracking its recovery, to a fluence Phi_p=(2.12 +- 0.15) x 10EE14 cm-2. Results on proton-induced damage to the crystal and its spontaneous recovery after both irradiations are presented here, along with some new, complementary data on proton-damage in Lead Tungstate. A comparison with FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation results is performed and a qualitative understanding of high-energy damage mechanism is attempted.