Highly Versatile Computer-Controlled Television Detector System

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Abstract
A computer-controlled intensified television detector, sensitive to Photons between 1μ and 0.05Å, has been built for a wide range of applications, including X-ray astrophysics and observational astronomy. A digitally controlled intensified SIT vidicon camera generates a high resolution image which is digitally processed in real time and integrated in a large, high-speed memory system. The camera electronics can also accommodate CCD arrays or any other raster readout detector or camera. A thin scintillator or phosphor convertor deposited on a fiber optics faceplate is used for X-ray and vacuum ultraviolet applications. Active areas from 4 to 80 mm square and larger can be selected and easily changed. For rates of up to 104 or 105 events/sec the centroid of each event can be computed, while rates of up to 1012/sec can be accommodated by continuously digitizing and storing the video signal at each pixel. The camera scan rates and formats and the size and location of the scanned and gated areas of the target are under software control. The data acquisition and processing parameters and operating modes are also under software control. Interactive control and monitoring allow the detector system to be optimally configured for each anplication. Any array size un to 4000x4000 pixels can be selected. The spatial resolution depends on the active area, operating mode, and TV tube resolution, and ranges from 10μ to 200μ. A typical low-cost 25 mm system has a resolution of about 30μ in the photon counting mode and 100μ in the A/D mode. The memory system accommodates up to 16M words of 12 to 24 bits, and can display the integrated image during and after accumulation. Modular construction allows the detector system or any of its subsystems to be easily duplicated at a low cost.

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