Bevalac ion beam characterizations for single event phenomena

This paper reports that linear energy transfer (LET) distribution of Bevalac ion beams were measured. Subsequent analysis has called into question the standard assumption of a monoenergetic, single species beam at Bevalac. Both high-LET contaminants in the primary beam, and very broad LET peaks in degraded beams were observed. High energy ion beams at other accelerators may possess similar characteristics. The existence of beam impurities may have important ramifications for the interpretation of single event phenomena observed at high energy accelerator sites