HiCal 2: An instrument designed for calibration of the ANITA experiment and for Antarctic surface reflectivity measurements

S. Prohira, A. Novikov, D. Z. Besson, K. Ratzlaff, J. Stockham, M. Stockham, J. M. Clem, R. Young, P. W. Gorham, P. Allison, O. Banerjee, L. Batten, J. J. Beatty, K. Belov, W. R. Binns, V. Bugaev, P. Cao, C. Chen, P. Chen, A. ConnollyL. Cremonesi, B. Dailey, C. Deaconu, P. F. Dowkontt, B. D. Fox, J. Gordon, C. Hast, B. Hill, R. Hupe, M. H. Israel, J. Kowalski, J. Lam, J. G. Learned, K. M. Liewer, T. C. Liu, A. Ludwig, S. Matsuno, C. Miki, M. Mottram, K. Mulrey, J. Nam, R. J. Nichol, E. Oberla, B. F. Rauch, J. Roberts, A. Romero-Wolf, B. Rotter, J. Russell, D. Saltzberg, H. Schoorlemmer, D. Seckel, S. Stafford, B. Strutt, K. Tatem, G. S. Varner, A. G. Vieregg, S. A. Wissel, F. Wu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

The NASA supported High-Altitude Calibration (HiCal)-2 instrument flew as a companion balloon to the ANITA-4 experiment in December 2016. Based on a high-voltage (HV) discharge pulser producing radio-frequency (RF) calibration pulses, HiCal-2 comprised two payloads, which flew for a combined 18 days, covering 1.5 revolutions of the Antarctic continent. ANITA-4 captured over 10,000 pulses from HiCal-2, both direct and reflected from the surface, at distances varying from 100–700 km, providing a large dataset for surface reflectivity measurements. Herein we present details on the design, construction and performance of HiCal-2.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)60-66
Number of pages7
JournalNuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment
Volume918
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 21 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Nuclear and High Energy Physics
  • Instrumentation

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