The LCLS Undulator Beam Loss Monitor Readout System

The LCLS Undulator Beam Loss Monitor System is required to detect any loss radiation seen by the FEL undulators. The undulator segments consist of permanent magnets which are very sensitive to radiation damage. The operational goal is to keep demagnetization below 0.01% over the life of the LCLS. The BLM system is designed to help achieve this goal by detecting any loss radiation and indicating a fault condition if the radiation level exceeds a certain threshold. Upon reception of this fault signal, the LCLS Machine Protection System takes appropriate action by either halting or rate limiting the beam. The BLM detector consists of a PMT coupled to a Cherenkov radiator located near the upstream end of each undulator segment. There are 33 BLMs in the system, one per segment. The detectors are read out by a dedicated system that is integrated directly into the LCLS MPS. The BLM readout system provides monitoring of radiation levels, computation of integrated doses, detection of radiation excursions beyond set thresholds, fault reporting and control of BLM system functions. This paper describes the design, construction and operational performance of the BLM readout system.