First results of the LHC longitudinal density monitor

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN is the world's largest particle accelerator. It is designed to accelerate and collide protons or heavy ions up to the center-of-mass energies of 14TeV. Knowledge of the longitudinal distribution of particles is important for various aspects of accelerator operation, in particular to check the injection quality and to measure the proportion of charge outside the nominally filled bunches during the physics periods. In order to study this so-called ghost charge at levels very much smaller than the main bunches, a longitudinal profile measurement with a very high dynamic range is needed. A new detector, the LHC Longitudinal Density Monitor (LDM) is a single-photon counting system measuring synchrotron light by means of an avalanche photodiode detector. The unprecedented energies reached in the LHC allow synchrotron light diagnostics to be used with both protons and heavy ions. A prototype was installed during the 2010 LHC run and was able to longitudinally profile the whole ring with a resolution close to the target of 50ps. On-line correction for the effects of the detector deadtime, pile-up and afterpulsing allow a dynamic range of 105 to be achieved. First measurements with the LDM are presented here along with an analysis of its performance and an outlook for future upgrades. ► Longitudinal profile measurement of LHC beams. ► High dynamic range. ► Ghost and satellite bunch characterization. ► Use of synchrotron light from heavy ions.