Testing of the FRACAS set-up

The FRACAS experiment will aim to provide fragmentation cross sections of carbon beam for hadrontherapy purposes. It is designed on a large acceptance mass spectrometer for energies up to 400 MeV/n on targets of medical interest (H, C, O, N, Ca). Its detection elements such as the beam monitor, different up- and downward trackers as well as a Time-of-Flight wall must be tested prior to any cross section experiments.

For now, only the beam monitor and the ToF wall are ready to be tested. The beam monitor consists of several parallel plate avalanche chambers in isobutane for timing and position measurements while the ToF wall consists of 75 scintillation detectors based on YAPCe crystals and photomultiplier tubes. The experiment was dedicated to the testing of these detectors.