III.14 — CERN beamline for fixed-target experiments

Fixed-target experiments are continuing to play a major role in the very beginnings of accelerator-based studies in particle physics. While collider experiments dominate the exploration in the high-energy domain, fixed-target experiments still cover the important complementary domain, as they permit experiments with extremely high event rates. In addition, they play a crucial role in detector prototype testing and calibration, as well as radiation-hardness tests. This chapter summarises the purpose of the fixed-target beam lines, focusing on the beam lines present at CERN. It explains the basics of beam interaction with the target and the production of secondary particles, illustrates the design of secondary and tertiary beam lines and presents examples of experiments at CERN East and North Experimental Areas.