Heavy Ion Large Telescope (HILT)

The HILT experiment was designed to measure the charge, energy, and mass of cosmic rays in the energy range of about 8.0--310 MeV/nucleon. Specifically, the energy ranges were: He:3.9--90 MeV/nucleon; C:7.2--160 MeV/nucleon; O:8.3-310 MeV/nucleon; Ne:9.1--250 MeV/nucleon; and, Fe:11--90 Mev/nucleon. The instrument consisted of (a) an array of position sensitive proportional counters at the entrance, followed by (b) an ionization chamber, (c) another array of position sensitive proportional counters just before, (d) a coplanar, 10-element, solid state array of detectors. The detectors were backed by, (e) a large CsI scintillation counter which was viewed by four light sensitive diodes. The geometric factor was as large as 35 cm**2-sr. The two position sensitive counters enabled computation of the exact length of the trajectory along the ionization chamber. Items (a), (b), and (c) were filled with flowing, isobutane gas at a pressure of 75 Torr. The 8.5 kg of liquid isobutane was sufficient for a three year operation. The instrument was basically a dE/dx vs. E system; dE/dx was provided by (a), (b), and (c), and E was provided by (d) and (e). The telemetered signals from all the sensors enabled accurate determination of isotopic mass, charge and energy. However, isotopic resolution was poor at the high energy end of each band, especially for the heavier elements. Species dependent fluxes were, however, readily computed even at the high energy ends. For more details, see IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing, vol 31, May 93, pp 542-548. The instrument functioned normally as of 15 July 1996; the next update will be only when any significant status change occured.

HILT实验旨在测量宇宙射线在约8.0--310 MeV/nucleon的能量范围内的电荷、能量和质量。具体而言，能量范围分别为：氦(He)：3.9--90 MeV/nucleon；碳(C)：7.2--160 MeV/nucleon；氧(O)：8.3-310 MeV/nucleon；氖(Ne)：9.1--250 MeV/nucleon；以及铁(Fe)：11--90 MeV/nucleon。仪器由以下部分组成：（a）入口处的位置灵敏比例计数器阵列；（b）电离室；（c）紧接其后的另一阵列位置灵敏比例计数器；（d）一个共面的、10元件的固态检测器阵列；（e）一个大型CsI闪烁计数器，由四个光敏二极管进行观测。几何因子高达35 cm**2-sr。两个位置灵敏计数器使得可以精确计算沿电离室的轨迹长度。项目（a）、（b）和（c）填充有流动的异丁烷气体，压力为75 Torr。8.5公斤的液态异丁烷足以支持三年的运行。该仪器基本构成一个dE/dx对E的系统；dE/dx由（a）、（b）和（c）提供，而E由（d）和（e）提供。所有传感器的遥测信号使得准确测定同位素质量、电荷和能量成为可能。然而，在高能端，尤其是对较重的元素，同位素分辨率较差。然而，即使在高能端，种类的通量也可以轻松计算。更多详细信息，请参阅IEEE地球科学与遥感 Transactions，第31卷，1993年5月，第542-548页。该仪器自1996年7月15日起正常运行；下一次更新仅当发生任何重大状态变化时才会进行。