First measurement with few nanoamperes resolution for Bergoz Instrumentation

Accelerator:

AGOR Cyclotron at KVI (UMCG-PARTREC, Groningen, Netherlands)

Beam:

  • Protons and ions (Between 90 MeV and 190 MeV)
  • Macropulse of few microseconds to CW beam
  • Between 45 MHz and 60 MHz repetition rate
  • Average current between 100 nA and 10 µA

Customer need

Non-destructive measurement of macropulses low currents (few tens and hundreds of nanoamperes)

Solution

The CWCT is well adapted for the cyclotron beams average current measurements. Yet, for this particular demand, its resolution was not good enough to measure such low currents.

The LC module, a shielded front-end electronics consisting of a Low-Noise Amplifier and specially tuned filters, was developped within our R&D department.

It was attached directly to the sensor to reduce catching noise from the environment.

Performances reached

Tests were ran during two sessions in October 2021 and in March 2022 on one line of the AGOR cyclotron:

  • With the LC-CWCT and BCM-CW-E, a 5 nA rms resolution was reached for a 3.5 ms risetime (10%-90%).
  • With a faster risetime, 35 µs (10%-90%), the resolution was 40 nA rms.

These performances are the first of a kind for Bergoz Instrumentation. Being able to measure an average beam current with few nanoamperes resolution is a great success for our R&D!

The LC-CWCT will be presented at IPAC 2022 that will be held in Bangkok, Thailand. We will be pleased to answer your questions