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Instruments for Solar Wind and Cosmic Rays

There is much information on instrumentation on the WWW now. Below are some examples of instruments that are discussed in class:

Low Energy Particle Instruments:

The CODIF/TEAMS/ESIC (acronyms for the different renditions of the instrument) time-of-flight spectrometer is flying on FAST has flown on Equator-S and is being built for Cluster. This is one of our main instruments in the group. Combining an electrostatic analyzer and time-of-flight, the instrument determines the mass per charge (M/Q) and the energy per charge of the incoming ions. The instrument uses post-acceleration to extend to low energies. A paper describing the instrument is on-line. We also have a movie that describes the basics of the instrument. Go to the Movies and pick the Time-of-Flight instrument.
The SULEICA instrument on AMPTE/IRM was one of the first TOF instruments flown. It has discovered the interstellar pickup ions. SULEICA employs also a solid state detector to measure the total energy of ions independently. Therefore, SULEICA gets E, M, and Q separately.
The SWICS instrument on ACE provides composition and charge state data of the solar wind. SWICS uses post-acceleration to extend to low energies.
The SWIMS instrument on ACE provides high-resolution elemental and isotopic composition of the solar wind. It uses isochronous time-of-flight measurement (motion of the ion like in a harmonic oscillator).

Magnetometer:

The MAG instrument on ACE provides the magnetic field data in the solar wind to support the energetic particle and solar wind measurements. It is also part of the Real-Time Solar Wind Monitor that provides Space Weather information through NOAA on-line.

Energetic Particle Instruments:

Here are some of the cosmic ray instruments on the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE):
The SEPICA instrument on ACE determines the charge states of the solar energetic particles and thus is like a "remote sensing thermometer" for the acceleration sites of these particles. It employs electrostatic deflection, proportional counters and solid state detectors. An animated movie that describes the workings of SEPICA can be found on the Movie page. Go to ACE on the bottom of the page.
The SIS instrument on ACE provides high-resolution elemental and isotopic composition of solar energetic particles at high (>5 MeV/Nucleon) energies.
The CRIS instrument on ACE provides high-resolution elemental and isotopic composition of galactic cosmic rays.

 

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