Review of beam diagnostics for radioactive beams

Nuclear research with radioactive beams is the most recent challenge for both fundamental nuclear physics and particle accelerator technology research. Beam diagnostics is a typical component of any accelerators based facility, but for radioactive beams the technology to be used presents many analogies with that one used for standard nuclear detectors. The main reason of this peculiarity is the low, sometimes very low, intensity of the beams to be characterized but also the requirement for new kind of measurements like the unambiguous isotope identification. Another important request is the instrumentation for mass spectrometry setups where the fragments produced on the target have to be transported along a dedicated beam line as part of the detector itself. A big effort is in progress all over the word to develop new devices and techniques oriented to improve the performances of the standard beam instrumentation increasing the dynamic range in terms of energy and intensity sensitivity. Also the investigation on the use of new materials may represent a valid alternative for this improvement. In this review will be presented the general guidelines, the problem evaluation, the requested features and the most significant ideas