PETRA proton beam profiling by vibrating wire scanner

A vibrating wire scanner (VWS) based on the strong dependence of the wire oscillation frequency on temperature was developed and used in the 15 GeV/c proton beam of the proton accelerator PETRA-II at DESY. The results show an enormous sensitivity of the scanner and the possibility to use it for weak particle beams and beam halo profiling. The scans show a strong correlation between scanner position and frequency signal. The accuracy of the frequency measurements achieved 0.01 Hz which corresponds to wire temperature measurement accuracy less than 0.001 K. Comparison of the signal from VWS with a scintillating counter system registering secondary particles/radiation showed that the signal from VWS appears at least 10 mm farther from the beam center. Details of the measurements and the results are given. Some investigations of the frequency and the Q-factor of the vibrating wire oscillations dependence on vacuum level are presented