Distributed beam loss monitor based on the Cherenkov effect in an optical fiber

This review discusses a distributed beam loss monitor which is based on the Cherenkov effect in an optical fiber and which has been installed at the VEPP-5 Injection Complex at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics. The principle of the device operation consists in detecting the Cherenkov radiation generated in an optical fiber by relativistic charged particles that are produced in an electromagnetic shower when highly relativistic beam particles (electrons or positrons) hit the accelerator vacuum chamber wall. Our experiments used a photomultiplier tube (PMT) to detect the Cherenkov light. Knowing when the PMT signal arrives tells us where the beam loss occurs. Using a 20-m-long optical fiber allowed a detector spatial resolution of 3 m. The way to improve the resolution is to optimize the monitor working conditions and optical fiber and PMT parameters, potentially leading to a resolution of as fine as 0.5 m according to our estimates.