Intelum project: tackling the calorimetry challenge for future high-energy colliders

Intelum is one of the CERN-coordinated projects funded under H2020. It aims to develop low-cost, radiation-hard scintillating and Cherenkov crystal and glass fibres for the next generation of calorimeter detectors for future high-energy experiments. This new technology could also have important applications in the medical imaging field.
 

 

Intelum project partners at the kick-off meeting held on 11 March at CERN.

 

Intelum is an H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) project coordinated by CERN. This project was initiated by the Crystal Clear Collaboration (CERN’s RD18 experiment), which has been developing inorganic scintillation materials for novel ionising-radiation detectors for 25 years.

Intelum is an international consortium including fifteen institutes and companies from across western and eastern Europe, Japan and the USA, all of which are experts in crystal growth, scintillating mechanisms, radiation damage and detector design. About 50 researchers will make short-term exchange visits to participating institutes to share their know-how and expertise.

LuAG fibres produced by two partners of the Intelum project (ILM/CNRS and Fibercryst).

Over the four years of the project, the partners hope to develop a new technology – called “micro-pulling-down crystal growth production” – that has the potential to enable heavy crystal scintillating fibres to be manufactured more quickly and more cheaply.

“With this project, we aim to demonstrate the sufficient radiation hardness of the new fibres by achieving the degradation of the optical properties of the fibres below 10% at the 1-MGy level of radiation,” explains Etiennette Auffray, a member of the PH department and Intelum project coordinator. “We also plan to demonstrate the feasibility of producing up to 200 km of optimal–quality, cost-effective fibre.” 

by CERN Bulletin