Project Title:

A High Dynamic Range, Solar-Blind UV Sensitive Photon-Counting Detector

  94-1		08.01	0613

  A High Dynamic Range, Solar-Blind UV Sensitive Photon-Counting Detector

Abstract:

Photon counting imaging detectors offer many advantages for a wide range of scientific 
applications. Such detectors have as their output the x-y postion and time-of-arrival of each 
detected photoevent. The PAPA (Precision Analog Photon Address) detector is a novel 
photon-counting imaging detector that has been developed and used extensively for high-
angular-resolution ground-based astronomical imaging. The PAPA is radically different from 
other photon-counting detectors because it separates the photodetection and gain functions 
from the photon position measurement. It offers significant performance and cost advantages 
over other 
photon counters and can have spatial resolution of 6 m, a 15 cm diameter field, a count rate of 
107 s-l. Its simple, reliable architecture provides a stable system with very long lifetime and 
minimal maintenance requirements. The PAPA uses a microchannel plate image converter with 
a phosphor output screen as its front-end and determines event positions using multi-channel 
optics combined with simple electronics. We propose to develop a fast, compact, lightweight, 
low-power version of the PAPA using solarblind W, EUV, and X-ray sensitive microchannel plate 
image converters. In Phase I, we will breadboard and test key elements of an improved version 
of the detector that will enable Phase II construction of a working prototype detector.

The PAPA detector proposed for development should have a wide range of potential commercial 
applications ranging from medical imaging to space science. It should fulfill the growing 
requirement for higher resolution, higher sensitivity, and larger array sizes for UV through X-ray 
imaging. Its construction from mostly conventional components make it relatively inexpensive and 
easy to manufacture so it would be 
highly competitive on the commercial market.

Key Words

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