Small Dosimeter based on Timepix device for International Space Station

Abstract

The radiation environment in space is different, more complex and more intense than on Earth. Conventional devices and detection methods used nowadays do not allow to discriminate single particle types and the energy of the single particles. The Timepix detector is a position sensitive pixelated detector developed at CERN in a frame of the Medipix collaboration that provides capability to visualize tracks and measure energy of single particles. This information can be used for sorting the particles into different categories. It is possible to distinguish light charged particles such as electrons or heavy charged particles such as ions. Moreover, the Linear Energy Transfer (LET) for charged particles can be determined. Each category is assigned a quality factor corresponding to the energy a particle would deposit in the human tissue. By summing the dose of all particles an estimate of the dose rate can be calculated. For space dosimetry purposes a miniature device with the Timepix detector and a custom made integrated USB based readout interface has been constructed. The entire device has dimensions of a USB flash memory stick. The whole compact device is connected to a control PC and is operated continuously. The PC runs a software that controls data acquisition, adjusts the acquisition time adaptively according to the particle rate, analyzes the particle tracks, evaluates the deposited energy and the LET and visualizes in a simple display the estimated dose rate. The performance of the device will be tested during a mission on International Space Station planned towards the beginning of year 2012.