Characterizing the Beam at the CCLDAS Dust Accelerator

A new in-beam Dust Position Sensor (DPS) at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies (CCLDAS) accelerator facility has been constructed and is now in use. DPS functions as a beam diagnostics tool by giving the x-y position of charged hypervelocity (1-100 km/sec) micron-sized particles passing through its two planes of orthogonal wires. The design is based on the Dust Trajectory Sensor (DTS) instrument developed at CCLDAS for studying both the trajectories of high-speed interplanetary and interstellar dust and the transport mechanisms of slow moving dust on the lunar surface. Image charges induced in the wires of DPS by passing charged dust particles are detected and analyzed to give a profile of the beam within a 1 inch square area at the center of the beamline. Applications for DPS include the quantitative evaluation and improvements of the focusing and steering elements of the accelerator. The portable nature of the device allows for beam profiling at multiple locations along the beamline. The construction of DPS, waveform signals, and beam profile results are described.