Octagonal-shaped scintillation counter as position detector for low-intensity electron beams.

A beam position detector was developed that is based on a thin octagonal-shaped scintillator which is read out by silicon photomultipliers on its eight lateral sides. Its main application is beam diagnostics and triggering for sensitive detector setups using extremely low beam intensities. In-beam tests at the Mainz Microtron have demonstrated that the position of single electrons can be obtained with a precision of below 1 mm when adding systematic and statistical uncertainties. Measurements have been complemented by a simulation with Geant4 to optimize the detector geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]