Single crystal chemical vapor deposit diamond detector for energetic plasma measurement in space

This study reports the performance of single crystal chemical vapor deposit diamond detectors for measuring space plasma and energetic particles: ~7 keV energy resolution for protons with a 14 keV threshold level, and good response linearity for ions and electrons as expected from Monte-Carlo calculations of primary particle energy loss. We investigated that these diamond detectors are able to operate at high temperature (>70°C) and have fast response times (<1ns rise time). While silicon detectors have proven capability over this energy range for space plasma measurements, diamond detectors offer a faster response, higher temperature operation, greater radiation tolerance, and immunity to light.