Greifswald 2009 – scientific programme

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EP: Fachverband Extraterrestrische Physik

EP 7: Poster Session Extraterrestrics

EP 7.11: Poster

Tuesday, March 31, 2009, 17:30–19:00, Foyer der Zahnklinik

Light-output response of the scintillators for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) — •Cesar Martin, Eckart Boehm, Onno Kortmann, Stephan Bottcher, Robert F. Wimmer-Schweingruber, Soenke Burmeister, and Bent Ehresmann — Institut für Experimentelle und Angewandte Physik Christian-Albrecht-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany

The Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) onboard the NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover mission has been designed to detect a wide range of particle types (charged and neutral) and energies on the Mars surface. The BC432m plastic scintillator coupled to PIN photodiodes has been used as a neutron detector as well as an anticoincidence shield for the RAD instrument. We present an experimental study of the non-linear light-output response of the BC432m for protons and neutrons beams. The experimental results have been compared to the parametric formula based on the theoretical work of Birks and Chou. Furthermore, a comparison between the quenching effect found in the BC432m and in other inorganic scintillators (CsI:Tl) used in the RAD instrument has been performed.