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The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer AMS-02 [1]?[4] is an astro particle physics experiment running on the International Space Station (ISS; see Figure 1) since May 19, 2011. Its missions include the search for antimatter and the identifcation of the nature of dark matter. The AMS silicon tracker is the only subdetector inside the AMS permanent magnet that can detect the charge of a moving particle to distinguish an anti-particle from particle (see Table 1 for nomenclature). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Detection of low levels of light is one of the key aspects in medical and space applications. Silicon photomultiplier, a novel type of avalanche photodetector which operates in Geiger mode, shows promising results and offer superior design options. The performance characteristics of the SiPM realized in FBK-irst are studied and presented in this paper. The leakage current, dark rate and internal gain are characterized as a function of temperature. The investigation has been carried out in the framework of the DASiPM Collaboration and the INFN/FBK-irst MEMS project. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes the architecture, the performance and the qualification tests of the Tracker detector power supply system for the AMS-02 experiment. The AMS-02 experiment will measure the cosmic ray spectrum from 0.5 GeV up to several TeV in space, looking for anti-matter, dark matter and strange quark matter. The experimental apparatus will be installed in the International Space Station (ISS) in year 2008. A preliminary version of this experiment has flown in 1998 on the STS-91 shuttle flight. The power supply system of the tracker has been designed optimizing noise performances, modularity and efficiency. Power is generated starting from a 28 V line coming from the power distribution box for the entire experiment. This power is converted into the needed voltages by means of DC-DC converters, and for bias supply and front-end voltages is postregulated by means of linear regulators. Components Off The Shelf (COTS) have been extensively used in the construction of this power supply, however various radiation test campaigns have been performed in order to verify the reliability of these components. Active components were tested for total dose radiation damage and digital components were also tested for single event effects. The power supply architecture developed for the tracker detector has been used as a guideline for the development of the power supplies for the other detectors in the experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents information on a study which tested commercial off-the-shelf components for their use on the power supplies of the accelerator mass spectrometry and PAMELA experiments. Testing procedure; Irradiation of discrete components; Dynamics of digital to analog converters; Conclusions.