Investigation of single event effects with very high energy ions

Our solar system is bombarded by galactic cosmic rays (GCR). These consist of electrons and nearly all the elements of the periodic table. The energy of the ions can be as high as 1020 eV, but they have their maximum fluence around 1 GeV/n. Here on Earth the atmosphere protects us from most of the GCRs but in space they pose a serious hazard for satellite electronics due to their ability to produce a lot of electrical charge inside a very small volume by direct ionization along their path inside the device.