The Serpukhov neutrino beam

The neutrino channel at the Serpukhov accelerator is described. A summary is given of the general characteristics of the neutrino beam shaping systems together with the neutrino and antineutrino beam parameters. The total length of the neutrino channel is 440 m. The neutrino channel is based on the proton beam extracted from the accelerator and focused on an external target. Used as the targets are aluminium and alumina rods of 1 cm in diameter and 40 to 60 cm long. Charged mesons produced in a target pass through a neutrino focusing device. Then the slightly divergent beam enters a vacuum decay channel which terminates in a steel muon filter. The neutrino channel is totally enclosed in a biological shielding of concrete and steel blocks. According to preliminary data the integral neutrino flux through a spark detector may be as high as 0.4x10-2 Isub(p), where Isub(p) is the intensity of the proton beam incident upon a target