Calibration of a Satellite‐Borne Soft Particle Spectrometer

The calibration of an electrostatic deflection, auroral particle spectrometer, which uses bare electron multipliers for detectors, is described. The spectrometer measures the fluxes of both electrons and protons in the energy range 10 to 10 000 eV. An attempt is made to minimize the uncertainty in the measurement of the absolute particle flux to which such instruments are prone. The detection of electrons and protons by electron multipliers is investigated as a function of energy and flux of the particles, and for different values of the multiplier gain.