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arXiv · 2607.20774

The High-Energy Light Isotope eXperiment (HELIX) Instrument

P. S. Allison·M. Baiocchi·J. J. Beatty·L. Beaufore·D. H. Calderon·Y. Chen·S. Coutu·E. Ellingwood·D. Fuehne·N. Green·D. Hanna·H. B. Jeon·B. Kunkler·M. Lang·R. Mbarek·K. McBride·C. E. McGrath·I. Mognet·J. Musser·S. Nutter·S. O'Brien·N. Park·T. Rosin·K. Sakai·M. Tabata·G. Tarle·G. Visser·S. P. Wakely·I. G. Wisher·M. Yu
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Abstract

The HELIX detector is a balloon-borne instrument designed to measure the flux of light (Z < 11) cosmic-ray isotopes. In this paper we describe the initial configuration of HELIX, optimized for measurements in the energy range from approximately 0.2 GeV per nucleon to beyond 3 GeV per nucleon. In addition to a spectrometer, which is based on a one-tesla superconducting magnet and a drift-chamber tracker, HELIX employs scintillator-based time-of-flight counters and a ring-imaging Cherenkov detector, allowing event-by-event reconstruction of primary particle mass, charge, and magnetic rigidity.

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P. S. Allison, M. Baiocchi, J. J. Beatty, L. Beaufore, D. H. Calderon, Y. Chen, S. Coutu, E. Ellingwood, D. Fuehne, N. Green, D. Hanna, H. B. Jeon, B. Kunkler, M. Lang, R. Mbarek, K. McBride, C. E. McGrath, I. Mognet, J. Musser, S. Nutter, S. O'Brien, N. Park, T. Rosin, K. Sakai, M. Tabata, G. Tarle, G. Visser, S. P. Wakely, I. G. Wisher, M. Yu. 2026-07-22. The High-Energy Light Isotope eXperiment (HELIX) Instrument. https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.20774

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