A novel technique for real-time ion identification and energy measurement for in situ space instrumentation

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new real-time pulse shape discrimination technique for space-based ion detection, enabling accurate identification and energy measurement of various ions from hydrogen to iron in a compact, low-cost instrument.

Contribution

It presents a novel in situ space instrumentation method using pulse shape discrimination for real-time ion identification across a wide energy range.

Findings

First implementation of pulse shape discrimination in space instrumentation

Effective identification of ions from H to Fe in real-time

Compact and low-cost design suitable for space applications

Abstract

The AGILE (Advanced enerGetic Ion eLectron tElescope) project focuses on the development of a compact low-cost space-based instrument to measure the intensities of charged particles and ions in space. Using multiple layers of fast silicon sensors and custom front-end electronics, the instrument is designed for real-time particle identification of a large variety of elements from H to Fe and spanning energies from 1 to 100 MeV per nucleon. The robust method proposed in this work uses key defining features of electronic signals generated by charged particles (ions) traveling through silicon layers to reliably identify and characterize particles in situ. AGILE will use this real-time pulse shape discrimination technique for the first time in space based instrumentation.