Crystal Channelling in Accelerators

Abstract

Crystal lattice can trap and channel particle beams along major crystallographic directions. In a bent crystal, the channelled particles follow the bend. This makes a basis for an elegant technique of beam steering by means of bent channelling crystals, experimentally demonstrated from 3 MeV to 1 TeV. This technique was strongly developed in recent studies at CERN, FNAL, IHEP, and BNL, and can lead to interesting applications also at the LHC, such as crystal collimation making a collider cleaner by an order of magnitude. We review recent developments in the field and show outlook for the future.