PMID: 11607229Nov 1, 1991Paper

Magnetospheric imaging with low-energy neutral atoms

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
D J McComasM F Thomsen

Abstract

Global imaging of the magnetospheric charged particle population can be achieved by remote measurement of the neutral atoms produced when magnetospheric ions undergo charge exchange with cold exospheric neutral atoms. Previously suggested energetic neutral atom imagers were only able to measure neutral atoms with energies typically greater than several tens of keV. A laboratory prototype has been built and tested for a different type of space plasma neutral imaging instrument, which allows neutral atoms to be imaged down to <1 keV. Such low-energy measurements provide greater sensitivity for imaging the terrestrial magnetosphere and allow the bulk of the magnetospheric ion distribution, typically centered below 10 keV, to be observed rather than just the high-energy tail of the distribution. The low-energy neutral atom measurements are made possible by utilizing charge state modifications that occur when an initially neutral atom passes through an ultrathin carbon foil. Oxygen, for example, is highly electronegative, and for energies of approximately 10-30 keV, the O- yield is approximately 30%, essentially independent of the charge state of the incident oxygen atom. These ions are energy per charge analyzed, and the UV backgro...Continue Reading

Citations

Feb 1, 1995·Applied Optics·E E ScimeM L Schattenburg
Apr 9, 2020·The Review of Scientific Instruments·Alisha D ViraNathan A Moody

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