The angle detecting inclined sensors (ADIS) system: measuring particle angles of incidence without position sensing detectors

We report on a novel system, the Angle Detecting Inclined Sensors (ADIS), for determining the angle of incidence of energetic charged particles. This system is particularly suited to space-based and balloon-borne instruments to study Solar Energetic Particles, Galactic Cosmic Rays and Anomalous Cosmic Rays. Such instruments are frequently constrained by limited resources in terms of mass, power and telemetry. At the same time, large detector area and acceptance angle, together with good elemental and isotopic resolution, can be critical for the required measurements. High-resolution particle identification requires that the angles of incidence of ion events in an instrument be determined. Conventional Position Sensing Detectors (PSDs) used in hodoscopes add significant complexity and require additional electronics, thus increasing instrument mass and power usage. The ADIS system overcomes many of these problems by using detector geometry in place of PSDs.