The analyzer uses a selection screen with a swept retarding potential. Electrons with energies less than the retarding potential are rejected and those with higher energies pass through the screen and are collected on an anode below. The current collected by the anode is measured by a low noise electrometer circuit.
The entrance face of the analyzer is held at a fixed +4V relative to payload ground to accelerate electrons into the entrance in the presence a negative payload potential. Gyro radius problems are minimized by keeping the analyzer dimensions small and mounting it in a field aligned direction.
This figure shows a theoretical model of the potential distribution near the ERPA with -1.5V payload potential and +4V bias on the entrance face. The light green area is at the neutral plasma potential. The dark blue is the negative payload potential and the red its the positively biased ERPA. The trace shows a path of a .01eV electron as it moves from its tight spiral in the neutral plasma and accelerates along the magnetic field toward the ERPA.
The +4V bias accelerates the electrons from the external plasma into the ERPA but once they cross the entrance screen they decelerate as they approach the selection screen. The net energy gained relative to the plasma goes to zero when the selection voltage exactly cancels the payload potential. If an electron passes though the selection screen it is then accelerated toward the anode.
This plot shows data from basic operation. The selection screen voltage sweeps from +2V to -2V in 64 1msec steps. When the selection voltage is more positive than the payload potential, the full energy range of
electrons is collected. As the sweep becomes more negative, the lower
energy electrons are rejected. Since the thermal energy spectrum only
extends up a few tenths of an eV, eventually the sweep becomes
negative enough to reject all the electrons and the current drops to
zero. To see how many electrons were collected at each energy, the
change in current at each step is computed to give a differential
energy spectrum.
These plots show a few example fits from ROPA data.
The sweep voltage corresponding to the location of the peak in the differential energy spectrum is a rough approximation of the payload potential. The payload potential would actually be slightly lower than the peak and dependent on temperature but peak location is the parameter that is easy to extract from the data.
The total current collected by the +4V bias is measured as the SKIN channel. This channel gives a good indication of relative density but has similar problems in terms of an absolute density calibration. The front disk is basically like a fixed volatge Langmuir probe 2.2 inches in diameter. The current collected gives a rough estimate of number density.
The SKIN channel provides higher time resolution data on fluctuations since it does not require a full sweep.
The SKIN channel sees some variation due the the selection sweep. Most of the current is collected by the outer ring of the disk but the
entrance is about 20% of the total area. When electrons are rejected
by the screen some of them will return back to the plasma and are not
collected. When the sweep is accepting electrons, many that pass the
screen are off angle will be collected on the interior of the
collimator. This adds to the SKIN current and causes about a 15%
overall variation with sweep. The maximum anode current is about 4%
of the SKIN current.
The SKIN channel also includes a small square wave current (+/- 6nA) due to
capacitive coupling from the sweep. This effect is only noticeable at
low signal levels. It is a constant amplitude and can be subtracted
out.
This small background has no effect on the differential spectra but it can be used give an indication of when auroral electrons are present.