Trying to connect. Scholar List 100% D150 Tests of Microchannel Plate (MCP) Detector Response to MeV Electrons in Support of Juno, JUICE, and Europa Mission UVS Instrument Investigations Tests of Microchannel Plate (MCP) Detector Response to MeV
Citation
The article is titled "Tests of Microchannel Plate (MCP) Detector Response to MeV Electrons in Support of Juno, JUICE, and Europa Mission UVS Instrument Investigations". It was presented at the 3rd International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions in 2016. The authors are K.D. Retherford, M.W. Davis, T. K. Greathouse, R. M. Mon-real, R. C. Blase, U. Raut, A. J. Steffl, C. M. Cooke, O. Siegmund, and G. R. Gladstone.
Keywords
- Microchannel Plate (MCP) detectors
- MeV electrons
- Gamma rays
- Jupiter radiation environment
- Europa radiation environment
- Juno mission
- JUICE mission
- Europa UVS instrument
- Detection efficiency
Brief
The article discusses the results of tests conducted to determine the efficiency of Microchannel Plate (MCP) detectors, commonly used in UV instruments, in detecting MeV electrons and gamma rays in the radiation environments of Jupiter and Europa.
Summary
The article, from the 3rd International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions (2016), discusses the effects of MeV electrons on Microchannel Plate (MCP) detectors used in UV instruments.
Here are some key findings from the tests conducted:
- The tests revealed that MCP detectors have an approximate 31% efficiency rate when exposed to MeV-level electrons. This finding aligns with previous data on UVS-style detectors but deviates from findings related to detectors with thinner MCP stacks.
- The research also found that these detectors demonstrate a 2.4±0.1% efficiency with gamma rays at a 0.5 MeV input energy, a figure derived from the electron-to-gamma conversion within the fused silica window. This result is consistent with a previously reported 2% QE to gammas.
- The authors emphasize the importance of these findings for designing high-Z shielding materials to minimize background count rates, which is crucial for scientific measurements in future missions like JUICE-UVS and Europa-UVS.
The authors conducted beamline tests at MIT to observe the response of MCP detectors to the high-energy electrons anticipated in the radiation environments of Jupiter and Europa. These tests were deemed necessary as MCPs, while highly effective in detecting far-UV photons, have a notable detection efficiency for energetic electrons (approximately 30%) and γ-rays (around 1%). The presence of these detected particles introduces noise into the UV photon signal, potentially jeopardizing the quality of scientific data collected. To mitigate these challenges, the researchers used the Juno-UVS flight spare cross-delay line (XDL) MCP and an atomic-layer deposition (ALD) coated test-MCP in their tests. The team compared their findings with data from various sources, including in-flight measurements from New Horizons Pluto-Alice, event data from LRO-LAMP, Earth proton-belt flyby data from Juno-UVS, and recent bench tests using radioactive sources.