The FIRST experiment: interaction region and MAPS vertex detector

The improvement of the precision of the measurement of the nuclear cross-section, in order to fulfill the requirements of the actual Monte Carlo simulations for hadrontherapy and space radioprotection, is the main goal of the FIRST experiment. After a brief introduction on the treatment planning in hadrontherapy, this paper describes main characteristics and components of the experiment. The features of the interaction region detectors and their main needs (low material budget, high angular coverage, two tracks resolution and large trigger rate) are discussed. Special emphasis is devoted in discussing the new silicon pixel vertex detector, in particular its new developed data acquisition and its characterization with the first test results obtained with a prototype of the detector.