Detailed radiation analysis for scientific instruments may necessitate the retention of very detailed particle track information in order to post-process the track and ionisation data for different instrument conditions. For applications in commercial space industry, the retention of phase-space data can also be used as a method of quantifying the radiation local to a spacecraft subsystem...
As part of the ATHENA mission development activity, dedicated experiments have been carried out to measure the electron back-scattering yield and their spectrum off the ATHENA X-ray mirror materials. The experiments have been simulated in Geant4 in details and excellent agreements achieved. This validated Geant4 as a tool for the simulation of electrons through the ATHENA X-ray optics.
The question of soft proton scattering efficiency under grazing angles raised in 1999 quickly after the Chandra X-ray observatory was launched. Since then, measurements could confirm a reduction of the large discrepancy between soft proton radiation effects seen in orbit and simulations. Nevertheless, a complete experimental coverage of the relevant parameter space is still...
The MIDAS device is a detector with wristwatch dimensions and mass less than 50g. It consists of a plastic scintillator cube connected to a silicon photomultiplier on its one face, while all the other faces are covered by a titanium box and 2 consecutive layers of fully depleted silicon pixel sensors with in-pixel signal processing electronics. Its purpose is not only to act as a LET...
The Einstein Probe (EP) mission is dedicated to time-domain astrophysics in 0.5–4 keV energy band to discover high-energy transients and to monitor variable objects. To realize these objectives, EP is equipped with a Wide-filed X-ray Telescope (WXT) which applies the micro-pore lobster-eye optics. Seward et.al 1973 first pointed out that low-energy electrons could cause serious background...
Geant4 electromagnetic (EM) physics sub-libraries are responsible for simulation of different radiation effects for space applications. The current status of Geant4 EM physics available with the recent Geant4 release 10.6beta will be discussed. Special attention will be made for new features and EM parameters allowing to configure a space related simulation application. The preview of EM...
The developments for low energy hadron/ion cross sections, pre-compound model, and de-excitation module will be described. For neutrons, protons and light ions a new data set has been released for Geant4 10.5 and updated for coming release 10.5. Classes, responsible for the Glauber-Gribov hadron/ion nuclear cross section were reviewed and updated. The new Fermi-Break-up model for light ion...
Importing mechanical models constructed in CAD to Geant4 has always been a challenge requiring a great effort on behalf of the physicist. Since no open-source and generic solution existed to bypass this problem, a new tool, GUIMesh, was developed with Python to convert STEP geometries into GDML as tessellated solids using FreeCAD libraries.
The tool allows to determine the precision of the...
Geant4Py is a Geant4 Python interface distributed with the Geant4 source code that allows to develop Geant4 applications in the Python programming language. In order to simulate the photon and particle background of X-ray detectors in space, bindings for needed features such as the General Particle Source (GPS) were added to the Geant4Py environment along with general improvements and support...
The scaling trend of highly integrated circuits makes them more and more sensitive to single event effects (SEE). It has now become necessary for circuit designers to figure out the sensitivity of their circuit and new technology during the design phase. The purpose of TRADCARE is to assess their reliability before manufacturing and therefore, reduce the testing costs. TRADCARE can also be...
Within the framework of the ESA financed activity AREMBES, there have been
considerable efforts to set up a Space Physics lists. The realization that for some of the processes under consideration experiemental data is scarce or inconclusive has lead to the launch of another ESA financed project known as EXACRAD. At the heart of EXACRAD are 3 exprimental activities aimed at charcterizing: 1)...
ESA’s Space Environment Information System (SPENVIS, https://www.spenvis.oma.be) is providing interfaces to various Geant4-based tools that can be used for supporting scientific studies related to the characterisation of the space environment and its effects. More specifically, the users can employ these tools to verify instrument and detector responses, optimise space radiation shielding,...
The multiple scattering calculations, inherently implemented in all widely used, general–purpose Monte Carlo codes, play a critical role in the determination of any expected dose yield and are directly related to volume damage effects. Small changes in multiple scattering (lateral mainly), and therefore in the corresponding particle trajectories, can lead to significant changes in the affected...
Microdosimetry is the study of the stochastics of energy deposition in microscopic volumes by ionizing radiations and forms the physical basis of the quality factor, Q. The official connection was made more than 30 years ago by ICRU which defined Q as a function of the microdosimetric quantity lineal energy (y) instead of LET. Subsequently, ICRP re-defined Q(LET) to match the Q(y) of ICRU....
For a real beam experiment, uniform irradiation to the device under the test is a key factor. I report Geant4-evaluation result for newly developed irradiation system.
The Cosmic Ray Telescope for the Effects of Radiation (CRaTER) sensor has been orbiting the Moon aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) since 2009. As is implied by its name, it was designed primarily to measure the effects of energetic particles in the near-lunar environment rather than to act as a spectrometer to measure the distribution of those particles. As such, it has now...
Since early 2000’s GEANT4 knows an increasing use for the modelling of the space environment effects on space systems. New domains of applications recently appear of reached an operational level, like for instance in 3D internal charging analysis or in the prediction of the Single Events Effects (SEE/SEU) in electronic devices. These outline new usages, needs and challenges. It is proposed to...
