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Title:
Characteristics of a dust trajectory sensor
Authors:
Auer, Siegfried; Grün, Eberhard; Kempf, Sascha; Srama, Ralf; Srowig, André; Sternovsky, Zoltan; Tschernjawski, Valentin
Affiliation:
AA(A&M Associates, P.O. Box 421, Basye, Virginia 22810, USA), AB(LASP, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg 69029, Germany), AC(Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg 69029, Germany; Institut für Geophysik und Extraterrestrische Physik, Universität Braunschweig, Braunschweig 38106, Germany), AD(Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg 69029, Germany; Institut für Raumfahrtsysteme, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart 70569, Germany), AE(ASIC Labor, Universität Heidelberg, Heidelberg 69120, Germany), AF(LASP, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA), AG(Deutsches Zentrum für Luft-und Raumfahrt, Berlin-Adlershof 12489, Germany)
Publication:
Review of Scientific Instruments, Volume 79, Issue 8, pp. 084501-084501-7 (2008). (RScI Homepage)
Publication Date:
08/2008
Origin:
AIP
PACS Keywords:
Astronomical and space-research instrumentation, Dust processes, Dust, extraterrestrial materials, Sensors ; remote sensing
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 2008: American Institute of Physics
DOI:
10.1063/1.2960566
Bibliographic Code:
2008RScI...79h4501A

Abstract

Trajectories of cosmic dust particles are determined by the measurement of the electrical signals that are induced when a charged grain flies through a position-sensitive electrode system. A typical dust trajectory sensor has four sensor planes consisting of about 16 wire electrodes each. Two adjacent planes have orthogonal wire directions. The sensor is highly transparent and mechanically robust, provides a large sensitive area, large field of view, and can, at least in principle, achieve unlimited precision. While a sensor model had already undergone limited testing in the dust laboratory, its response as a function of position and angle of incidence of the trajectory and as a function of sensor dimensions was generally unknown. To better understand its characteristics, the operation of a sensor model consisting of three planes and seven wires per plane was simulated using the COULOMB computer program. We show that the response of the reduced model can be applied to a model with more planes and more wires per plane. The effect of a trajectory's position and angle on the signal strength is discussed as well as the influence of geometrical parameters such as wire diameter, distance between wire planes, and wire length. We found a greater effect of the wire diameter on the signal strength, and a lesser effect of the plane distance, than expected. A set of similarity rules is provided for the design of a larger sensor. Finally, we discuss the optimization of the sensor for different applications.
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