First Experience with the LHC Beam Loss Monitoring System

The LHC beam loss monitoring system (BLM) consists of about 4000 monitors observing losses at all quadrupole magnets and many other likely loss locations. At the first LHC operation in August and September 2008 all monitors were active and used to observe the losses during the initial beam steerings, at collimators, at the LHC dump and during aperture scans. The different acquisition modes and their presentation are shown. Aperture scan loss patterns and a detailed loss pattern leading to a magnet quench are discussed. The observed signals of the BLM system are analyzed in terms of response time, sensitivity and noise performance.