Transient particle effects on the ISOCAM instrument on-board the Infrared Space Observatory

One of the main limitations to the sensitivity of the infrared camera ISOCAM on-board the Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) comes from responsivity variations and glitches caused by the impacts of charged particles in photodetectors. An international glitch working group has been created in order to centralize information about these phenomena and prepare for future space experiments. Results about ISOCAM glitches are presented here. The predicted glitch rate has been re-evaluated and compared to in-flight measurements. The study of temporal and spatial properties of glitches has led to a classification into 3 distinct families. These families are related to the linear energy transfer (LET) of charged particles interacting with the detectors.