Heavy Ion and Proton Irradiation of Gas Electron Multipliers With Liquid Crystal Polymer Insulator: Evaluation Tests for Use in Space

Author

Iwahashi, T. ; Tamagawa, T. ; Hayato, A. ; Nakamura, S. ; Konami, S. ; Asami, F. ; Yasuda, N. ; Kitamura, H. ; Sakurai, H. ; Tokanai, F. ; Miyasaka, H. ; Makishima, K.

Author_Institution

RIKEN (The Inst. of Phys. & Chem. Res.), Wako, Japan

Volume

58

Issue

5

fYear

2011

Firstpage

2401

Lastpage

2406

Abstract

Gas electron multipliers with a liquid crystal polymer insulator (LCP-GEMs) can be employed as X-ray polarimeters in several satellite missions in low-earth orbit. To evaluate their resistance to radiation, LCP-GEMs were exposed to Fe ion and proton beams from the heavy-ion accelerator facility HIMAC, and the gas gain was monitored. The LCP-GEMs survived 14.4-year-equivalent irradiation by fully stripped Fe ions with an energy of 500 MeV nuc^-1, which simulated galactic cosmic-ray ions. We also studied the degradation of the insulator layer of the LCP-GEMs by irradiation with 160 MeV protons to simulate geomagnetically trapped protons. After irradiation with protons for 31.6 years equivalent, no significant change in gain was observed.

Keywords

galactic cosmic rays; ionisation chambers; polymer insulators; position sensitive particle detectors; proton effects; Fe ion; Gas Electron Multipliers; HIMAC; X-ray polarimeters; galactic cosmic-ray ions; geomagnetically trapped protons; heavy-ion accelerator facility; liquid crystal polymer insulator; low-earth orbit; proton beams; proton irradiation; Detectors; Discharges; Ions; Iron; Protons; Radiation effects; Satellites; GEM; GEMS satellite; Gas electron multiplier; space application; x-ray polarimeter;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Nuclear Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9499

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TNS.2011.2162001

Filename

5989880