The detector concept consists of a windowless, microchannel plate image intensifier viewed by a charged-coupled-device (CCD) camera that detects and images ultraviolet (UV) radiation and particles. This project will take advantage of recent improvements in photocathode, microchannel plate, phosphor and fiber-optic technologies, as well as current CCD technology and optimized detector configurations. Image processing algorithms and fast signal processors will provide analog and/or photon counting imaging modes. This project will show that the optimized detector schemes can provide high spatial resolution (40 line pairs/mm analog, 10 æm photon counting), high quantum efficiency (greater than 50 percent on average), large counting rates (1010 photons/sec analog, greater than 5 x 104 events/sec photon counting) and high dynamic range with low background, small and large formats, and solar blindness.
Potential Commercial Applications:It is anticipated that the detector will find applications in future rocket, shuttle, and satellite instruments, for high performance imaging and spectroscopy in astrophysics, aeronomy, and solar and planetary physics. Specifically, the detector can be used in high- resolution UV spectroscopy, high-resolution mass spectroscopy, biological sample imaging, microscopy, and crystallography.
