OPTIMAL COOLING OF HIGH PURITY GERMANIUM SPECTROMETERS FOR MISSIONS TO PLANETS AND MOONS

摘要

Gamma-ray spectrometers based on high purity germanium(HPGe)detectors are ultimately sensitive instruments for composition studies of surfaces of planets and moons.However,they require deep cooling well below 120K for the entire duration of space mission,and this challenges the feasibility of such instruments in the era of small and cost-efficient missions.In this paper we summarise our experience in the field of the theoretical and experimental studies of optimal cryogenic cooling of gamma-ray spectrometers based on HPGe detectors in order to find out how efficient,light and compact these instruments could be, provided such technologies like cryogenic heat pipe diodes(HPDs),efficient thermal insulation and efficient miniature cryocoolers are used.