PhD Success!

Congratulations to University of Oxford student Collette Pakuza who on 21st November 2023 successfully defended her thesis, titled "Development of a beam position monitor based on Chernkov diffraction radiation for the AWAKE experiment at CERN".

My research involved developing a beam position monitor (BPM) for use in the common beam-line at the AWAKE experiment where both electron and proton bunches propagate closely in time and space. The BPM uses novel technology based on Cherenkov diffraction radiation and aims to measure only the electrons in the presence of the more-intense, but longer, proton bunches via frequency discrimination. The thesis presents the design and simulations of the BPM, a test-bench characterisation of the pick-up, and beam-based measurements at both AWAKE and the CERN Linear Electron Accelerator for Research (CLEAR) test facility.

From left to right: Prof. Phil Burrows, Dr. Verena Kain (CERN), Carlo Mussolini, Collette Pakuza and Prof. Emmanuel Tsesmelis, pictured here at Jesus College in Oxford