My primary interests are space plasma instrumentation and carbon foils for space applications.
I design and develop sensors that measure either ions (solar wind, suprathermal ions, and solar energetic particles),
energetic neutral atoms (magnetosphere, termination shock), or electrons (Jupiter).
I model several sensors such as
IBEX-Hi on IBEX,
PLASTIC on STEREO,
TWINS,
SWAP on New Horizons, and
JADE-E on JUNO.
In addition to these sensors, I also work on new concepts and designs for
future missions and other more specific areas related to space research (see below). Sensors are eventually tested and fully characterized in a vacuum chamber with ion beam, which represents another interesting part of my work.
Ultra-thin (~10 nm) carbon foils are used extensively in space plasma spectrometers for generation of a coincidence measurement via secondary electron emission in time-of-flight mass spectrometers or charge conversion of energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) in ENA imagers. An ion or neutral atom passing through the carbon foil also experiences energy loss and straggling and angular scattering. Measurement and quantification of all these effects is also part of my interest for sensor modeling.
After a short postdoctoral appointment in the
“Physikalisches Institut”
at the University of Berne,
I joined the Space Science and Engineering Division
at SwRI (Southwest Research Institute)
in San Antonio (TX), where I spent the last three years designing, developping, and modeling space plasma sensors.
My CV with a publication list is accessible here.
My responsibilities include: electro-optics design and optimization for IBEX-Hi and lead of calibration group for the IBEX payload (IBEX-Hi and IBEX-Lo).
I worked on the design of the entrance system / energy analyzer
(see links to the chapters of my thesis below) of the PLASTIC sensor on NASA's STEREO mission.
Moreover, I performed numerical simulations of solar wind measurements with the PLASTIC sensor
(see chapter 5). On the basis of the simulation results, a laboratory prototype has been built
and eventually tested and fully characterized in the CASYMS facility at University of Berne,
Switzerland (see chapter 3 and 4). There, I also designed and built an experiment for measuring the
low-energy ion-induced electron yields from thin carbon foils (see abstract of publication here).
The PLASTIC sensor on STEREO: Design of the entrance system / energy analyzer and numerical simulations of solar wind measurements