Distributed Optical Fiber Radiation Sensing at CERN
Résumé
The CERN's accelerator tunnels are associated with very complex mixed field radiation environments. Radiation degrades electronic components and directly affects their lifetimes causing failures that contribute to the machine downtime periods. In our contribution, we will report on the development and first employment of a Distributed Optical Fiber Radiation Sensor (DOFRS) at CERN. The most interesting feature of DOFRS technology is to provide an online and spatially distributed map of the dose levels in large machines with spatial resolution of the order of one meter. This fiber based dose sensor will provide valuable information in addition to the currently installed active and passive dosimeters. After demonstrating the working principle of DOFRS*, the first operational prototype was installed in the Proton Synchrotron Booster during last 2016/17 end-of-the-year technical stop. The DOFRS has been acquiring data successfully since the beginning of 2017 operations. The performances that were achieved by the first prototype will be discussed in the final contribution. The DOFRS measurements will also be bench-marked to the results provided by other punctual dosimeters.