K. A. Pounds
Study of solar Ultra-Violet and X-radiation
1961 (supervisor: R. L. F. Boyd)

This thesis describes the start of solar radiation studies by rocket made from the Department of Physics, University College, London. The general aim is to obtain data on the short wavelength solar emission, thought to be a major source of ionisation in the Earth's upper atmosphere and to correlate this with direct measurement of the ionosphere, also being made by the Department. Three rocket instrumentations are described:

a) a counter spectrometer designed to obtain detail of the short-wave solar X-ray spectrum;

b) a simple and compact film X-ray detector capable of monitoring solar X-radiation during each rocket flight in which an associated quantity is under study;

c) an ion chamber detector sensitive to the strong Lyman alpha line of hydrogen, thought to be a prime cause of the ionospheric D-layer.

Results have been obtained in rocket flight with the last two devices. These results are given and discussed in the thesis. The third instrumentation is now awaiting a flight.