A study of high-energy proton induced damage in cerium fluoride in comparison with measurements in lead tungstate calorimeter crystals

A CeF3 crystal produced during early R&D studies for calorimetry at the CERN Large Hadron Collider was exposed to a 24 GeV/c proton fluence Φp=(2.78±0.20)×1013cm−2 and, after one year of measurements tracking its recovery, to a fluence Φp=(2.12±0.15)×1014cm−2. Results on proton-induced damage in the crystal and its spontaneous recovery after both irradiations are presented here, along with some new, complementary data on proton-damage in lead tungstate. A comparison with FLUKA Monte Carlo simulation results is performed and a qualitative understanding of high-energy damage mechanism is attempted.