Experimental investigation of the radiation shielding efficiency of a MCP detector in the radiation environment near Jupiter’s moon Europa

Abstract

Neutral Ion Mass spectrometer (NIM) is one of the instruments in the Particle Environmental Package (PEP) designed for the JUICE mission of ESA to the Jupiter system. NIM, equipped with a sensitive MCP ion detector, will conduct detailed measurements of the chemical composition of Jovian icy moons exospheres. To achieve high sensitivity of the instrument, radiation effects due to the high radiation background (high-energy electrons and protons) around Jupiter have to be minimised. We investigate the performance of an Al–Ta–Al composite stack as a potential shielding against high-energy electrons. Experiments were performed at the PiM1 beam line of the High Intensity Proton Accelerator Facilities located at the Paul Scherrer Institute, Villigen, Switzerland. The facility delivers a particle beam containing e−, μ− and π− with momentum from 17.5 to 345MeV/c (Hajdas et al., 2014). The measurements of the radiation environment generated during the interaction of primary particles with the Al–Ta–Al material were conducted with dedicated beam diagnostic methods and with the NIM MCP detector. In parallel, modelling studies using GEANT4 and GRAS suites were performed to identify products of the interaction and predict ultimate fluxes and particle rates at the MCP detector. Combination of experiment and modelling studies yields detailed characterisation of the radiation fields produced by the interaction of the incident e− with the shielding material in the range of the beam momentum from 17.5 to 345MeV/c. We derived the effective MCP detection efficiency to primary and secondary radiation and effective shielding transmission coefficients to incident high-energy electron beam in the range of applied beam momenta. This study shows that the applied shielding attenuates efficiently high-energy electrons. Nevertheless, owing to nearly linear increase of the bremsstrahlung production rate with incident beam energy, above 130MeV their detection rates measured by the MCP detector compares to the MCP rate of the incident electron beam. We define key performance parameters for the shielding and show direction of its improvements by introducing additional layer of material to attenuate γ-rays and reduce the MCP sensitivity to the penetrating radiation. The experiments also verify the predictions by modelling tools used currently for optimisation of shielding against high-energy particles.