We describe the design and development of the CHIPS microchannel plate detector. The Cosmic Hot Interstellar Plasma Spectrometer will study the diffuse radiation of the interstellar medium in the extreme ultraviolet band pass of 90Å to 260Å. Astronomical fluxes are expected to be low, so high efficiency in the band pass, good out-of-band rejection, low intrinsic background, and minimal image non-linearities are crucial detector properties. The detector utilizes three 75mm diameter microchannel plates (MCPs) in an abutted Z stack configuration. A NaBr photocathode material deposited on the MCP top surface enhances the quantum detection efficiency. The charge pulses from the MCPs are centroided in two dimensions by a crossed-delayline (XDL) anode. A four panel thin-film filter array is affixed above the MCPs to reduce sensitivity to airglow and scattered radiation, composed of aluminum, polyimide/boron, and zirconium filter panes. The detector is housed in a flight vacuum chamber to preserve the hygroscopic photocathode, the pressure sensitive thin-film filters, and to permit application of high voltage during ground test.

Date Published: 8 December 2003
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 5164, UV/EUV and Visible Space Instrumentation for Astronomy II, (8 December 2003); doi: 10.1117/12.512279

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 5164:
UV/EUV and Visible Space Instrumentation for Astronomy II
Oswald H. W. Siegmund, Editor(s)