Abstract
We model the particle velocity distribution functions around the entrance window of the Suprathermal Ion Imager (SII). The SII sensor was mounted on a 1 m boom carried by the scientific payload of NASA rocket 36.234 as part of Joule II mission to investigate Joule heating in the E-region ionosphere. The rocket flew above Northern Alaska on 19 January 2007. The payload was spin-stabilized with a period of 1.6 s, giving an apparent rotation of the ion flow velocity in the frame of reference of the payload. The SII sensor is an electrostatic analyzer that measures two dimensional slices of the distribution of the kinetic energies and arrival-angles of low energy ions. The study is concerned with the interpretation of data obtained from the SII sensor. For this purpose, we numerically investigate ram velocity effects on ions velocity distributions in the vicinity of the SII sensor aperture at an altitudes of approximately 150 km. The electrostatic sheath profiles surrounding the SII sensor, boom and payload are calculated numerically with the PIC code PTetra. It is observed that the direction of the ion flow velocity modifies the plasma sheath potential profile. This in turn impacts the velocity distributions of NO+ and \(\mathrm{O}_{2}^{+}\) ions at the aperture of the particle sensor. The velocity distribution functions at the sensor aperture are calculated by using test-particle modeling. These particle distribution functions are then used to inject particles in the sensor, and calculate the fluxes on the sensor microchannel plate (MCP), from which comparisons with the measurements can be made.
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Acknowledgements
We thank D. Knudsen and R. Pfaff for providing data for this study. This work is supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Support was also provided by the International Space Science Institute in Bern, Switzerland. The simulations presented in this work made use of the WestGrid computing facilities. N. Imtiaz acknowledge U of A for providing financial support under teaching and research assistantship program to complete this research. This work was done while N. Imtiaz was a graduate student at University of Alberta, Canada.
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Imtiaz, N., Burchill, J. & Marchand, R. Impact of plasma sheath on rocket-based E-region ion measurements. Astrophys Space Sci 355, 23–32 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-014-2150-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10509-014-2150-1