Dechanneling studies of planar channeled particles in elastically bent silicon crystals for low values of pv/R

Abstract A detailed study has been carried out of the deflection and dechanneling of 8.4 GeV protons channeled between (111) planes in an elastically bent silicon crystal as a function of the bending radius. For these measurements the ratio of the particle momentum and bending radius ( pv / R ) was kept well below the critical value where strong dechanneling takes place. In this region local distortion produced by the pressure points in the bending apparatus does not play an important role. The results are discussed in terms of normal diffusion controlled dechanneling and modifications introduced by centripetal effects due to the elastic distortion of the bent crystal.