Single photon counting with a microchannel plate intensified integrated diode array.
A multichannel photoelectron counting system employing a Reticon 1024-element linear silicon photodiode array with fiber optic window has been developed. The primary esign philosophy was to produce a 1-D electronic camera optimized for high dispersion astronomical spectrophotometry of faint sources by intense fying the photodiode array with a microchannel plate. With an intensification factor of approximately 10(8), single photon incidences will be amplified beyond system noise, becoming readily discriminable by low resolution pulse counting electronics. The system will approach the ideal of a truly noiseless amplifier with shot-limited performance. Funds not being available for the purchase of a microchannel plate, operation of the system in the rapid scanning intensified mode was illustrated by using the photodiode array as a line scanner imaging bright sources, and operation in the slow chilled Reticon mode was illustrated by installation in an automated 3-m Czerny-Turner double monochromator.
Parkinson
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