The general purpose detector H1 at the electron proton collider facility HERA at DESY is a device to study electron proton interactions in a new kinematic range at center of mass energies around 300 GeV. With the support from INTAS the detector was upgraded by a forward proton spectrometer (FPS) to detect energetic protons, which are emitted under very small angles below 2 mrad. First results obtained with the FPS gave already new inside into diffractive processes. It seems, as if meson exchanges reactions are less prominent at large momentum transfer than expected by extrapolating low energy data.
The INTAS support has been spent on developing the detector units for the FPS to record protons at 5 mm distance from the circulating beam. Hodoscopes of scintillating fibers are ideal instruments for this task. They are sensitive over the whole surface without margins, they are radiation tolerant and they are fast with a risetime of a new nanoseconds and thus capable of rates up to tens of Mhz.
The key result of the INTAS supported R & D work is the proof that this type of detector can be operated a few millimeters from an energetic intense proton beam of a storage ring. To achieve this goal, a proper scintillator had to be developed and a multi cell photo-multiplier had to be built with good uniformity and Mhz rate capability. The demands on the photo-multiplier could only be met after a significant progress in the micro-channel plate performance had been. This work was initiated with INTAS money in a Moscow electronics firm. The new multipliers are now available on a commercial basis. They could have a wide spread application.
As a by-product of this work a new test facility for probing radiation-hardness is now available at the electrons synchrotron of the Lebedev Physics Institute for public use.
