Crystal Collimation at RHIC

Abstract

Crystal Channeling occurs when an ion enters a crystal with a small angle with respect to the crystal planes, The electrostatic interaction between the incoming ion and the lattice causes the ion to follow the crystal planes. By mechanically bending a crystal, it is possible to use a crystal to deflect ions. One novel use of a bent crystal is to use it to channel beam halo particles into a collimator downstream. By deflecting the halo particles into a collimator with a crystal it may be possible to improve collimation efficiency as compared to a single collimator. A bent crystal is installed in the yellow ring of the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). In this paper we discuss our experience with the crystal collimator, and compare our results to previous data, simulation, and theoretical prediction.