Diamond detector-based charged particle spectrometer

A next-generation charged particle spectrometer to monitor the radiation environment in space is being designed using diamond radiation detectors. The proposed instrument measures the energy, flux and dose of incident particles, besides carrying out particle identification by the well established E-ΔE technique. The instrument design is targeted for auroral studies during space weather events at Earth. Such an instrument can be flown on any spacecraft including inter-planetary missions where a robust, rad-hard instrument is needed. In this paper, the detector system, its principle of operation and details of the instrument including the signal handling electronics are described. Results from GEANT simulations, which are used to optimize the design of spectrometer, are also presented. (author)