Latest Results from the RD42 Collaboration on the Radiation Tolerance of Polycrystalline Diamond Detectors

As nuclear and particle physics facilities move to higher intensities, the detectors used there must be more radiation tolerant. Diamond is in use at many facilities due to its inherent radiation tolerance and ease of use. In this article we present our radiation tolerance measurements of the highest quality polycrystalline Chemical Vapor Deposition (pCVD) diamond material for irradiations from a range of proton energies, pions and neutrons up to a fluence of 2 x 10(16) particles/cm(2). We have measured the damage constant as a function of energy and particle species and compared it with theoretical models. We also present measurements of the rate dependence of pulse height for non-irradiated and irradiated pCVD diamond pad and pixel detectors, including detectors tested over a range of particle fluxes up to 20 MHz/cm(2) with both pad and pixel readout electronics. Our test beam results indicate a 2% upper limit to the pulse height dependence of unirradiated and neutron irradiated pCVD diamond detectors leading to the conclusion that the pulse height in pCVD diamond detectors is, at most, minimally dependent on the particle flux.