Nanosecond Gating Properties Of Proximity-Focused Microchannel-Plate Image Intensifiers

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Abstract
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 (≈ 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 (≈ 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 ≥ 750 ps and ≤ 5 1p/mm resolution with the MCP fully on were observed. Variations in the intensity profiles of the phosphorl.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.

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