Rocket-borne instrument with a high-resolution microchannel plate detector for planetary UV spectroscopy

A telescope-spectrograph employing a photon-counting microchannel plate (MCP)-CODACON detector has been built, tested, and flown on a sounding rocket. The detector uses a curved-channel MCP proximity focused onto a coded anode array of 1024 channels spaced 25.4-mm center to center. High quantum effi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied optics (2004) 1982-09, Vol.21 (17), p.3071-3079
Main Authors: McClintock, W E, Barth, C A, Steele, R E, Lawrence, G M, Timothy, J G
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:A telescope-spectrograph employing a photon-counting microchannel plate (MCP)-CODACON detector has been built, tested, and flown on a sounding rocket. The detector uses a curved-channel MCP proximity focused onto a coded anode array of 1024 channels spaced 25.4-mm center to center. High quantum efficiency is obtained by depositing a cesium iodide photocathode on the front surface of the MCP. The instrument has obtained an ultraviolet (1500-1800-A) spectrum of Jupiter with a spectral resolution of 8 A, which is higher than that of any previously reported observation in this wavelength range.
ISSN:1559-128X
DOI:10.1364/AO.21.003071