Computer simulation and calibration of the charge particle spectrometer-telescope ⪡STEP-F⪢

Abstract The spectrometer-telescope “STEP-F” is intended for detecting high-energy charged particle fluxes in near-Earth space. It has been developed to study solar cosmic rays and dynamics of the Earth's radiation belts onboard the Russian spacecraft ⪡Coronas-Photon⪢. The results of simulations by the CERN GEANT4.2 Code under OS LINUX Red Hat 6.2 for some types of particles, which will be detected by the “STEP-F” instrument, are presented. The visualization of primary and secondary particle tracks in each detector of the telescope has allowed us to verify the energy ranges of the recorded particles and to ascertain the possibility to determine the direction of incidence of primary electrons. The detectors have been tested in a high-energy ion cyclotron accelerator at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (RIKEN, Japan) in order to determine the response of each of the detectors to primary α-particle and hydrogen ion H2 beams. The experimental data obtained are in good agreement with the results of Monte-Carlo simulations. The basic parameters of the “STEP-F” instrument, such as the energy range of recorded electrons, protons and α-particles, the geometric factor, the field of view and the angular resolution, are presented.