Enhanced multiple scattering in crystals with effective LR length in the micron range

Multiple Coulomb scattering in amorphous media can be characterised by radiation length LR. We find in computer simulations that particles can scatter in bent crystal lattices with effective LR length down to a few microns or up to 700 times shorter than in the corresponding amorphous media. The effect exists only within the angular range of the bent crystal arc. Outside this range LR is back to normal value. This makes the crystal a material with unique enhanced multiple scattering property easily switched on/off. We derive a theoretical estimate independent of energy for the effective LR that is in agreement with our simulations for C, Si, Ge and W crystal lattices. We show that in the ongoing collimation experiment at the Tevatron a crystal-based “super-scattering material” could outperform a channeling crystal in collimation efficiency reducing the local background rate by a factor of 40. The introduced “enhanced multiple scattering” materials could serve for new approaches to beam collimation in accelerators, especially at the high-energy frontier machines like the LHC and ILC.