Non-ionising energy loss of pions in thin silicon samples

The dependence of the displacement damage induced by pions in silicon has been calculated as a function of their kinetic energy, between 50 and 1000 MeV, using data on pion-silicon interaction. The region of the delta resonance has been carefully considered, because it corresponds to a sharp maximum in the spectra of simulated pion production in the central cavity of LHC. Results are reported on previous calculations and on experimental damage data measured in silicon detectors irradiated with pions.