Microchannel plate testing and evaluation for the AXAF high-resolution camera (HRC)

Almus T. Kenter; Kathryn A. Flanagan; G. R. Meehan; Stephen S. Murray; Martin V. Zombeck; George W. Fraser; James F. Pearson; John Ernest Lees; Adam N. Brunton; Sarah E. Pearce

doi:10.1117/12.218389

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1 September 1995 Microchannel plate testing and evaluation for the AXAF high-resolution camera (HRC)

Almus T. Kenter, Kathryn A. Flanagan, G. R. Meehan, Stephen S. Murray, Martin V. Zombeck, George W. Fraser, James F. Pearson, John Ernest Lees, Adam N. Brunton, Sarah E. Pearce

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Proceedings Volume 2518, EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Instrumentation for Astronomy VI; (1995) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.218389
Event: SPIE's 1995 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1995, San Diego, CA, United States

Abstract

The high resolution camera (HRC) will be one of the two focal plane instruments on the Advanced X-ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF). AXAF is a major NASA space observatory and is scheduled for launch in 1998. The essential elements of the HRC instruments are chevron pairs of microchannel plates (MCPs). The HRC MCPs provide x ray conversion and electron multiplication while maintaining high spatial and temporal resolution. In addition, the HRC MCPs will be the largest format, the lowest internal background, and the highest resolution of any MCP-based x-ray imaging detector. This paper presents results obtained in testing and evaluating flight candidate MCPs with emphasis on their low internal background out-of-band (high energy) response and their spatial uniformity.

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Almus T. Kenter, Kathryn A. Flanagan, G. R. Meehan, Stephen S. Murray, Martin V. Zombeck, George W. Fraser, James F. Pearson, John Ernest Lees, Adam N. Brunton, and Sarah E. Pearce "Microchannel plate testing and evaluation for the AXAF high-resolution camera (HRC)", Proc. SPIE 2518, EUV, X-Ray, and Gamma-Ray Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, (1 September 1995); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.218389

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