Production of high energy and low flux protons using ²D( ³He,p)⁴He for space detector calibrations

In this report, we want to demonstrate that besides the conventional use for elemental analysis and depth profiling by ion beam analysis (IBA), particles generated through ion-solid interactions in IBA may find other novel and important applications. Specifically, we use Rutherford backscattered and nuclear reaction produced high energy proton particles to calibrate an energetic particle subsystem (called ZEP) of the Space and Atmospheric Burst Reporting System (SABRS) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). To simulate low radiation flux in the space, we have devised an experiment that uses an ultrathin (∼51.8 nm) self-support gold foil to scatter a proton beam from a 3 MV Tandem accelerator into the ZEP subsystem. Direct backscattering from the thin gold foil produces proton particles with tunable energies of 0.2-6.0 MeV and desired counting rates of <10 kHz. To extend the proton particle energy beyond the Tandem's limit of 6 MeV, a high Q-value nuclear reaction, 2D + 3He → p + 4He + 18.352 MeV, was used. This reaction allows us to obtain as high as 25.6 MeV proton particles on our 3 MV tandem accelerator, more than 4 times as high as the accelerator's maximum proton beam energy, and has greatly extended our proton energy range for this calibration activity. Preliminary ZEP subsystem calibration results are presented. © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V.