The upgrade of the LHC accelerator and experiments generates an increasing demand for irradiation tests and the need for new, dedicated irradiation facilities reaching higher integrated doses and/or particle fluxes. Such facilities are needed to test and validate detectors and electronics for the LHC experiments as well as electronics components and systems to be installed in accelerator radiation areas. Several irradiation facilities are presently being upgraded or newly constructed at CERN, in a joint effort of the EN and PH departments. They are expected to be fully operational from 2015.
The new EA-IRRAD facility in the PS East Area combines a 24 GeV/c proton irradiation facility (IRRAD) and a mixed-field facility (CHARM) and is being installed in the location previously occupied by the DIRAC experiment. The new Gamma Irradiation Facility (GIF++) in the SPS North Area combines a strong gamma source (Cs-137) with a particle beam and focuses on the characterization and understanding the long-term behaviour of large particle detectors.
This seminar will give an overview of all the irradiation facilities available at CERN, and will explain in detail the infrastructures run by the CERN Physics Department (IRRAD and GIF++) along with their key characteristics and potential for new irradiation experiments.