Focusing crystal device for deflecting a divergent 50-GeV proton beam

Abstract

At large accelerators, bent crystals are employed to deflect weakly divergent proton beams at the stages of extraction and collimation. We demonstrate that a divergent particle beam may be efficiently deflected using a crystal with a focusing edge. A proton beam with divergence near 1 mrad, which exceeds the Lindhard angle by a factor of 30, has been experimentally deflected by 1.8 mrad with efficiency near 15%. The proposed focusing crystal may serve as an element of a novel optical system for secondary-particle beams in the TeV energy region.