Absolute Measurements of keV Electron Beams

Space plasma instruments are tested and calibrated before they are flown in space. The calibration tests include measuring the response of the instruments and their detectors to ion, electron, or neutral atom beams of known intensity. In addition to the relative responses of the devices, it is important to understand the absolute measurements and detection efficiencies of the detectors, which are more challenging. With an ion beam, the absolute beam intensity can be obtained using coincidence measurements. From Funsten et al., 2005, the coincidences originate from forward and backward electrons that are emitted from a carbon foil when an ion passes through. This coincidence method may also be applied for an electron beam, but the chance of large uncertainties and offsets increases since there are significantly lower electron emissions from electrons themselves. In this paper, we compare measurements from an absolute beam monitor with the coincidence method and an avalanche photodiode that are subject to 3 to 30 keV electron beams. Unlike other detection methods, such as Faraday cups, both methods presented allow counting the individual detected electrons.