Operation of the Prospective SiD BeamCal in the Expected High-Radiation Forward Environment of the ILC
Physical and Biological Sciences
Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics
The BeamCal instrument is the only component of the detectors planned for the prospective International Linear Collider (ILC) that will experience a significant radiation dose during operation. In this thesis, I implemented the advanced FLUKA computing package to simulate the radiation field that would be experienced by the BeamCal instrument during operation at the ILC. By making use of experimental results on radiation damage to silicon-diode particle detectors, conducted at the SLAC Accelerator Lab, I used FLUKA to develop an expectation of radiation damage to a BeamCal instrument that makes use of this kind of detector. I also demonstrated that the damage observed in the SLAC experiment was consistent with previous measurements of radiation damage to silicon-diode detectors, giving further support for my BeamCal damage estimates. My results suggest that under the right conditions the accumulated power draw would be less than 15 Watts per year, establishing the viability of using this type of detector in the design of the BeamCal, and that the dose in the region just peripheral to the BeamCal would not pose a threat to the electronic amplifiers mounted there.
