Design, performance, and calculated error of a Faraday cup for absolute beam current measurements of 600-MeV protons

A mobile self-contained Faraday cup system for beam current measurments of nominal 600 MeV protons was designed, constructed, and used at the NASA Space Radiation Effects Laboratory. The cup is of reentrant design with a length of 106.7 cm and an outside diameter of 20.32 cm. The inner diameter is 15.24 cm and the base thickness is 30.48 cm. The primary absorber is commercially available lead hermetically sealed in a 0.32-cm-thick copper jacket. Several possible systematic errors in using the cup are evaluated. The largest source of error arises from high-energy electrons which are ejected from the entrance window and enter the cup. A total systematic error of -0.83 percent is calculated to be the decrease from the true current value. From data obtained in calibrating helium-filled ion chambers with the Faraday cup, the mean energy required to produce one ion pair in helium is found to be 30.76 + or - 0.95 eV for nominal 600 MeV protons. This value agrees well, within experimental error, with reported values of 29.9 eV and 30.2 eV.