CREST will detect high-energyelectrons by measuring
the X-ray synchrotron photons generated by these electrons in
the Earth’s magnetic field. This method achieves very large detector apertures, since
the instrument need only intersect a portion of the line of photons (which extend over
hundreds of meters of space) and not necessarily the electron itself. Conceptually, the
detector has an effective area determined by the dimension RS, and not the physical size
of the detector.
To discriminate against background photons, two characteristics of the radiation must be
exploited - the formation of a line of photons at the detector, and the very short time
interval over which these photons are detected. These requirements lead to a spatially segmented
detector with good (i.e. <2ns) timing resolution.
The CREST instrument will consist of a 2m x 2m array of 1600 BGO crystals, each viewed by a photomultiplier tube.
CREST will detect high-energyelectrons by measuring
the X-ray synchrotron photons generated by these electrons in
the Earth’s magnetic field. This method achieves very large detector apertures, since
the instrument need only intersect a portion of the line of photons (which extend over
hundreds of meters of space) and not necessarily the electron itself. Conceptually, the
detector has an effective area determined by the dimension RS, and not the physical size
of the detector.