Crystal Channeling and Its Application at High-Energy Accelerators

"Nature performs not hing vainly, and makes nothing unnecessary" Aristotle Interest in the passage of charged particles through crystals first appeared at the beginning of this century following experiments on x-ray diffraction in crystallattices, which provided the proof of an ordered distribution of atoms in a crystal.

This monograph describes the basic physics of high-energy crystal channeling and introduces the nonspecialist to the application of bent-crystals at accelerators. It covers topics such as charged particle channeling in straight and bent crystals, particle trapping into the channeling mode, the effects of crystal lattice distortions, and computer simulations. It also deals with crystal bending methods and discusses experimental schemes and theoretical results. Particular consideration is given to the projects for crystal use at future large hadron colliders. The topics are treated in a textbook style with many figures. The book addresses students as well as the working physicists in high-energy physics laboratories.

This textbook explains the basic principles of high-energy crystal channeling physics and introduces a non-specialist into the bent-crystal applications at accelerators. It covers topics such as charged particle channeling in straight and bent crystals, different mechanisms of particle trap into channeling mode, theory of dechanneling, computer simulations, and effects of crystal lattice distortions. It deals with crystal bending methods, and experimental schemes are discussed in detail and compared to the theory. The second half of the text considers the crystal applications: beam extraction, splitting, focusing, diagnostics etc.