A new tracking satellite-borne solar neutron detector

A very compact solar neutron detector is made by using scintillation fiber and multi-anode photomultipliers. Signals from the 512 channels of the phot omultipliers are read-out by CMOS circuitry which has been developed for a KEK B-factory experiment. The circuitry consumes only 5 W of power. The ene rgy resolution for protons is obtained by exposing the detector to the RIKE N accelerator beam and it turns out to be 4.1% for protons at 95 MeV. The s ensor will be used for observations on solar neutrons to elucidate the ion acceleration mechanism at the solar surface and also to provide information on-line to the cosmonauts about the impending arrival of strong radiations from the Sun. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.