Bevalac ion beam characterizations for single event phenomena

Linear energy transfer (LET) distributions of Bevalac ion beams were measured. Subsequent analysis has called into question the standard assumption of a monoenergetic, single-species beam at Bevalac. Both high-LET contaminants in the primary beam and very broad LET peaks in degraded beams were observed. High-energy ion beams at other accelerators may possess similar characteristics. The existence of beam impurities may have important ramifications for the interpretation of single event phenomena (SEPs) observed at high-energy accelerator sites. The experimental setup, the results of the beam measurements, and implications of these results for SEP studies, including a brief summary of relevant high-energy SEP studies, are described.>