The pitch-angle distribution of energetic particles is important for space physics studies on magnetic storm and particle acceleration.A‘pin-hole’imaging structure is built with the‘pin-hole’technique and a position sensitive detector,which can be used to measure the pitch angle distribution of energetic particles.To calibrate the angular response of the‘pin-hole’imaging structure,special experiment facilities are needed,such as the particle accelerator with special design.The features of this kind of particle accelerator are:1)The energy range of the outgoing particles should be mid-energy particles(tens keV to several hundred keV);2)the particle flux should be consistent in time-scale;3)the directions of the outgoing particles should be the same and 4)the particle number within the spot should be low enough.In this paper,a method to calibrate the angular response of the‘pin-hole’imaging structure by the90Sr/90Y β source with a collimator is introduced and simulated by Geant4 software.The result of the calibration with the collimated β source is in accord with the Geant4 simulations,which verifies the validity of this method.
Energetic electron measurements and spacecraft charging are of great significance for theoretical research in space physics and space weather applications.In this paper,the energetic electron detection package(EEDP)deployed on three Chinese navigation satellites in medium Earth orbit(MEO)is reviewed.The instrument was developed by the space science payload team led by Peking University.The EEDP includes a pinhole medium-energy electron spectrometer(MES),a high-energy electron detector(HED)based onΔE-E telescope technology,and a deep dielectric charging monitor(DDCM).The MES measures the energy spectra of 50−600 keV electrons from nine directions with a 180°×30°field of view(FOV).The HED measures the energy spectrum of 0.5−3.0 MeV electrons from one direction with a 30°cone-angle FOV.The ground test and calibration results indicate that these three sensors exhibit excellent performance.Preliminary observations show that the electron spectra measured by the MES and HED are in good agreement with the results from the magnetic electron-ion spectrometer(MagEIS)of the Van Allen Probes spacecraft,with an average relative deviation of 27.3%for the energy spectra.The charging currents and voltages measured by the DDCM during storms are consistent with the highenergy electron observations of the HED,demonstrating the effectiveness of the DDCM.The observations of the EEDP on board the three MEO satellites can provide important support for theoretical research on the radiation belts and the applications related to space weather.
The measurement of energetic particles plays an important role in the space environment monitoring and space weather forecasting.The accuracy of the energetic electron measurement is seriously influenced by the proton contamination.An anti-proton contamination design for the sensor of imaging energetic electron spectrometer is introduced in this paper.According to the electron and proton spectrum on the typical satellite orbits calculated by the radiation belt models,the efficiency of the anti-proton contamination design is estimated by the Geant4 simulation and the design is optimized based on the simulation results.
LUO LinZOU HongZONG QiuGangWANG LingHuaCHEN HongFeiSHI WeiHongYU XiangQian
Energetic electron measurement is of great significance to theoretical space physics research and space weather applications.Current energetic electron detectors must cooperate with a spin-stabilized satellite platform to achieve high angular resolution in pitch angle distribution and three-dimensional(3D)imaging measurement of energetic electrons.This article introduces a cross-type quasi-3D imaging electron spectrometer(IES)based on pinhole imaging technology developed in the laboratory.The imager is composed of five imaging units,including a nine-pixel area array Si-PIN detector imaging unit in the middle and four three-pixel linear array Si-PIN detector imaging units placed in a cross-shape around it.The combination of five imaging units forms two orthogonal nine-pixel linear array detectors(with a common pixel in the middle).There are four pixels with a view angle of 20°×20°in the 45°oblique directions of the cross-type detection array.There are 21 imaging pixels in the entire crosstype sensor head,corresponding to 21 directions.Two multichannel integrated preamplifier ASICs are integrated in the sensor head to realize particle signal readout from 21 pixels.With a back-end electronics system,each pixel can achieve high energy resolution detection of 50–600 keV electrons.Radioactive sources and electron accelerators are used to calibrate the cross-type imaging sensor head,and the results demonstrate its good energy and directional detection characteristics(the energy resolution reaches 6.9 keV for the incident 200 keV electron beam).We performed simulations on the imaging sensor head’s ability to measure the electron pitch angle distribution on the three-axis stabilized platform,and the results show that the sensor head can perform quasi-three-dimensional detection of electrons incident within 2πsolid angles on the three-axis stabilized satellite platform,with an average angular resolution of the electron pitch angle distribution of less than 6°.
YE YuGuangZOU HongWANG YongFuQIN JunFengSHI WeiHongZOU JiQingZHONG WeiYingZONG QiuGangFU SuiYan
