LEICA: a low energy ion composition analyzer for the study of solar and magnetospheric heavy ions

Author

Mason, Glenn M. ; Hamilton, Douglas C. ; Walpole, Peter H. ; Heuerman, Karl F. ; James, Tommy L. ; Lennard, Michael H. ; Mazur, Joseph E.

Volume

31

Issue

3

fYear

1993

fDate

5/1/1993 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

549

Lastpage

556

Abstract

The SAMPEX (Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer) LEICA instrument is designed to measure ~0.5-5-MeV/nucleon solar and magnetospheric ions over the range from He-Ni. The instrument is a time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer, which measures particle TOF over an ~0.5-m path and the residual energy deposited in an array of Si solid state detectors. Large-area microchannel plates are used, resulting in a large geometrical factor for the instrument (0.6 cm²sr), which is essential for accurate compositional measurements in small solar flares and in studies of precipitating magnetospheric heavy ions

Keywords

atmospheric elementary particle precipitation; cosmic ray apparatus; image intensifiers; semiconductor counters; solar cosmic ray particles; time of flight mass spectrometers; 0.5 to 5 MeV; LEICA; SAMPEX; Si; Solar, Anomalous, and Magnetospheric Particle Explorer; cosmic rays; geometrical factor; heavy ions; ion precipitation; low energy ion composition analyzer; microchannel plates; semiconductors; solar flares; time of flight mass spectrometer; Detectors; Energy measurement; Instruments; Magnetic analysis; Magnetosphere; Mass spectroscopy; Nuclear measurements; Particle measurements; Sensor arrays; Solid state circuits;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Geoscience and Remote Sensing, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0196-2892

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/36.225521

Filename

225521