Nanosecond gating properties of proximity-focused microchannel-plate image intensifiers
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM
Some fundamental properties of 18-mm-diam gated proximity-focussed microchannel-plate (MCP) image intensifiers used as fast image shutters in the 1 to 10 ns range have been identified and studied. Light pulses (ca 5-ps-wide) from a modelocked dye laser optically sample the gated MCP. Shuttering is achieved by applying a forward-biasing electrical gate pulse to the quiescently reverse-biased photocathode-MCP interface. Variable delay (ca 30-ps jitter) between the gate pulse and the laser pulse permit tracing the MCP's optical response. Gating speeds, turn-on and turn-off patterns, the asymmetric spatial dependence of the MCP optical response, and resolution effects as functions of gate pulse width and photocathode-MCP bias have been characterized. Shutter times of greater than or equal to 750 ps and less than or equal to 5 1p/mm resolution with the MCP fully on were observed. Variations in the intensity profiles of the phosphor's spatial response for uniform photocathode illumination are measured with a calibrated silicon-intensified-target (SIT) focus projection, scan (FPS) television camera and a high-speed video digitizer while photomultipliers (PMTs) monitor the laser pulse and the phosphor's spatially integrated output intensities. The characterization system, gating and biasing circuits, and experimental results will be presented.
- OSTI ID:
- 6615182
- Journal Information:
- Proc. Soc. Photo-Opt. Instrum. Eng.; (United States), Vol. 288; Conference: Los Alamos Conference on Optics '81, Los Alamos, NM, USA, 7 Apr 1981
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
GENERAL PHYSICS
IMAGE INTENSIFIERS
SHUTTERS
DYE LASERS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
GATING CIRCUITS
MODE LOCKING
PHOSPHORS
PHOTOCATHODES
RESOLUTION
CATHODES
DATA
ELECTRODES
ELECTRONIC CIRCUITS
INFORMATION
LASERS
LIQUID LASERS
NUMERICAL DATA
657005* - Theoretical Physics- Optics