Novel applications and future perspectives of a fast diamond gamma ray detector

For the first time, a diamond sensor was operated for the characterisation of a high average-intensity gamma-ray beam. Data was collected for gamma beam energies between 2 and 7 MeV, at the HIγS facility of TUNL. The nanosecond-fast resolution of diamond detectors is exploited to distinguish bunches of gamma rays 16.8 ns apart. It allows a precise direct determination of the time-structure of the gamma beam. The strong potential of such a detector for precise absolute flux, position and polarisation measurements is exposed. It is thus shown that diamond detectors are a decisive and unique tool for the detailed characterisation of upcoming gamma sources, such as ELI-NP and HIγS-2.