Research and development of a portable radiation monitor for use at aviation altitude

A portable radiation monitor for the application to in-flight measurement at high altitude is developed. The monitor named as Cosmic Radiation and Energetic Particle Analyzing System (CREPAS) is composed of a phoswich-type scintillator probe coupled with a high-speed data acquisition unit connected to a note computer via USB2.0 interface. The signal waveforms are analyzed on site for the discrimination of different radiation components. In order to examine the discrimination ability, the CREPAS was exposed to accelerated proton and helium beams at National Institute of Radiological Sciences-Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator in Chiba (NIRS-HIMAC) and the data were compared to those obtained at selected accelerator facilities (JAEA-FRS, Japan Atomic Energy Agency-Takasaki Ion Accelerators for Advanced Radiation Application (JAEA-TIARA) and Osaka Univ.-RCNP). As results, it was verified that this monitor can successfully detect heavy charged particles separately from neutrons. (author)