Light nuclear charge measurement with Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Electromagnetic Calorimeter

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) is a high energy particle detector installed and operating on board of the International Space Station (ISS) since May 2011. So far more than 70 billion cosmic ray events have been recorded by AMS. In the present paper the Electromagnetic Calorimeter (ECAL) detector of AMS is used to measure cosmic ray nuclear charge magnitudes up to Z=10. The obtained charge magnitude resolution is about 0.1 and 0.3 charge unit for Helium and Carbon, respectively. These measurements are important for an accurate determination of the interaction probabilities of various nuclei with the AMS materials. The ECAL charge calibration and measurement procedures are presented.