Adaptive high speed low noise detector electronics are being developed for a UV imaging instrument for application to astronomy and planetary science space missions and for various other terrestrial high speed imaging applications. Forthcoming space missions such as ESA JUICE¹ and the World Space ^Observatory2 have requirements for UV photon counting imaging detectors with high dynamic range, high spatial resolution and high radiation tolerance. Imaging techniques that can adapt to different luminosity conditions and optimise the image spatial resolution against the incoming photon event rate can provide significant performance advantages. We introduce an imaging photon counting Microchannel Plate (MCP) detector utilising a low noise Capacitive Division Image Readout (C-DIR)³ with adaptive pulse shaping capability. Our experimental setup provides controllable photon count rates for end-to-end detector performance measurement and system calibration. It uses a four channel fast digitiser which enables us to easily investigate various digital pulse shaping techniques and vary shaping time constants to assess their impact on detector performance. In this paper we describe our laboratory experimental setup, illustrate the method of imaging from photon counting and describe techniques for quantifying the image spatial resolution. Finally we present our current set of results comparing the measured spatial resolution with the theoretical determined from the measured intrinsic electronic noise of the system.

Date Published: 26 September 2013
PDF: 7 pages
Proc. SPIE 8859, UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XVIII, 88590V (26 September 2013); doi: 10.1117/12.2024153

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 8859:
UV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Space Instrumentation for Astronomy XVIII
Oswald H. Siegmund, Editor(s)