The study of efficient low-power diffraction designs

Topics covered include the design and fabrication of: (1) a nuclear radiation monitor for use in measuring the radiation environment of the space shuttle payload bay (part of the Spacelab 2 payload; (2) a parallel plate ion chamber for measuring ionization loss by relativistic heavy ions and (3) ionization chambers and proportional chambers for the active radiation detector on Spacelab 1. An experiment to measure the response of ion chambers and Cerenkox counters to relativistic argon and iron atoms is also described.