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We present an idea for creation of a crystalline undulator and report its first realization. One face of a silicon crystal was given periodic micro-scratches (trenches) by means of a diamond blade. The X-ray tests of the crystal deformation due to given periodic pattern of surface scratches have shown that a sinusoidal shape is observed on both the scratched surface and the opposite (unscratched) face of the crystal, that is, a periodic sinusoidal deformation goes through the bulk of the crystal. This opens up the possibility for experiments with high-energy particles channeled in crystalline undulator, a novel compact source of radiation. The wavelength λ of a photon emitted in an undulator is in proportion to the undulator period L and in inverse proportion to the square of the particle Lorentz factor γ. The minimal period L achieved presently with the electromagnetic undulators is limited to several millimeters [1], with respective restriction on the photon energy in the order of ћω=2πћγ 2 c/L. The crystalline undulators (CU) with periodically deformed crystallographic planes offer huge electromagnetic fields and could provide a quite short period L of an undulator in sub-millimeter range. This way one can also arrange for substantial amplitudes A of oscillation for the particles channeled through the undulator and thus increase the intensity of the radiation.Currently, bent crystals are largely used for channeling extraction of 70-GeV protons at IHEP (Protvino) with efficiency reaching 85% at intensity well over 10 12 particle With a strong world-wide attention to novel sources of radiation, there has been broad theoretical interest to compact crystalline undulators, with some approaches covering also nanotechnology to make use of nanotubes to guide radiating particles [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12] In bent crystal channeling experiments at IHEP Protvino with 70-GeV protons, it was found that accidental micro-scratches on a crystal surface caused a deformation of the crystallographic planes to substantial depths, down to a few hundred microns as depicted in Fig. 1(a). The picture of the plane parallelism violation can be reconstructed through analysis of the profile data of 70-GeV protons channeled in crystals (ref.[15], p.120). This analysis shows that the protons in the vicinity of scratches are retained in channeling mode but do experience a substantial angular deviation following the deformation of the crystal planes. Therefore, this effect could be profitably used for creation of CU by making a periodic series of micro trenches on the crystal surface as shown on Fig. 1(b).For the first experimental proof of the method, a special diamond blade scratched one face of a silicon plate by a set of parallel trenches (grooves). A sample with dimensions of 50 x 17 x 0.48 mm 3 was prepared from commercial silicon wafer. The large polished faces of the sample were parallel to crystallographic planes (0 0 1), other faces were parallel to planes (0 1 1) and (0 1 -1). On one of the large faces of the sample, ...

The trend of volume reflection parameters (deflection angle and efficiency) in a bent (110) silicon crystal has been investigated as a function of the crystal curvature with 400 GeV/c protons on the H8 beam line at the CERN Super Proton Synchrotron. This Letter describes the analysis performed at six different curvatures showing that the optimal radius for volume reflection is approximately 10 times greater than the critical radius for channeling. A strong scattering of the beam by the planar potential is also observed for a bend radius close to the critical one.

New experiments on crystal assisted collimation have been carried out at the CERN SPS with stored beams of 120 GeV/c protons and Pb ions. Bent silicon crystals of 2 mm long with about 170 μrad bend angle and a small residual torsion were used as primary collimators. In channeling conditions, the beam loss rate induced by inelastic interactions of particles with the crystal nuclei is minimal. The loss reduction was about 6 for protons and about 3 for Pb ions. Lower reduction value for Pb ions can be explained by their considerably larger ionization losses in the crystal. In one of the crystals, the measured fraction of the Pb ion beam halo deflected in channeling conditions was 74%, a value very close to that for protons. The intensity of the off-momentum halo leaking out from the collimation station was measured in the first high dispersion area downstream. The particle population in the shadow of the secondary collimator–absorber was considerably smaller in channeling conditions than for amorphous orientations of the crystal. The corresponding reduction was in the range of 2–5 for both protons and Pb ions

Bent crystal channeling has been observed with protons and fully stripped gold ions in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). Prior to 2003, a bent crystal was installed in one ring of RHIC as the first stage of a two stage collimation system. The observed channeling efficiency was approximately 25%, less than half of original predictions. We show that this is due to a difference between the model and real Twiss parameters at the crystal location and our improved understanding of the beam halo. Collimation using the crystal was unsuccessful and raised background at the STAR detector by as much as a factor of 2 because of the low channeling efficiency. We give a report of our channeling studies in RHIC and describe our experience using the bent crystal as a collimator. The results are discussed and compared to simulations and theoretical predictions.