Tests of a Roman Pot prototype for the TOTEM experiment

The TOTEM collaboration has developed and tested the first prototype of its Roman Pots to be operated in the LHC. TOTEM Roman Pots contain stacks of silicon detectors with strips oriented in two orthogonal directions. To measure proton scattering angles of a few microradians, the detectors will approach the beam centre to a distance of 10 sigma + 0.5 mm (= 1.3 mm). Dead space near the detector edge is minimised by using two novel "edgeless" detector technologies. The silicon detectors are used both for precise track reconstruction and for triggering. The first full-sized prototypes of both detector technologies as well as their read-out electronics have been developed, built and operated. The tests took place in the proton beam-line of the SPS accelerator ring. In addition, the pot's shielding against electromagnetic interference and the longitudinal beam coupling impedance have been measured with the wire method.