TITLE:
High Energy Electron Radiation Exposure Facility at PSI
AUTHORS:
Wojtek Hajdas, L. Desorgher, K. Deiters, D. Reggiani, Th. Th. Rauber, M. Tulej, P. Wurz, M. Luethi, K. Wojczuk, P. Kalaczynski
KEYWORDS:
Irradiations, Electron Beams, Components Tests, Exposure Facilities
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Applied Mathematics and Physics,
Vol.2 No.9,
September
12,
2014
ABSTRACT: Paul Scherrer Institut hosts the Proton
Irradiation Facility used for radiation effects studies and exposure tests in
preparation of satellite missions for the European Space Agency. The facility allows
for realistic simulation of the space proton spectra in the energy range from 6
MeV up to 230 MeV with exposure fluxes ranging from very low up to as high as
109 p/cm2/sec. Recently, approved ESA mission to Jupiter—JUICE—also
brought a need for tests with high energy electron beams. For this purpose,
another facility was established in the PSI secondary beam area piM1. Secondary
particles are produced on the thick carbon target hit by energetic proton beam.
Dedicated beam optics enables selection of the particle charge and momentum and
guides them to the tests area. Characterization of electron beams at various momenta
was performed with respect to their intensity, profiles and contamination by
pions and muons. Electron fluxes ranging from 1.5 × 103/cm2/s at 20 MeV/c to 2.3
× 106/cm2/s at 345 MeV/c with gaussian beam profiles with FWHM of about 4 cm
were measured. Beam contamination with heavier particles becomes negligible for
all momenta lower than 115 MeV/c. This allows for using them for components and
shielding characterization and detector calibration experiments. Several such
experiments have been already performed utilizing available beam time of few
weeks per year.