Hollow Fibres for the Future of CERN’s North Area

By Kristiane Bernhard-Novotny

 A slender glass fibre no thicker than a human hair placed across a particle beam could transform the way scientists monitor beams in one of CERN’s busiest regions: the North Area, home to many experiments that rely on intense particle beams coming from the Super Proton Synchrotron.

Measuring these powerful beams reliably is a constant challenge. As part of the North Area Consolidation (NA-CONS) project, researchers are exploring new tools that can withstand the extreme radiation of this environment. This brought together a team focusing on beam diagnostics for CERN’s experiments and researchers working on medical applications such as FLASH radiotherapy. FLASH delivers radiation doses at ultra-high rates and shows great promise in cancer treatment, but its extreme beam conditions also demand new kinds of monitoring tools. By linking accelerator expertise with medical research, the same technology being tested for CERN’s North Area could one day support the safe delivery of FLASH therapy to patients.