The Transmission Secondary Emission Image Intensifier and Its Application to Low Light Level Imaging

An image intensifier utilizing transmission secondary electron emission has been described elsewhere. Performance data on recent 4-stage tubes having 1 inch useful diameter is given. At low light levels, viewing with these tubes is photoelectron-noise-limited. These tubes resolve a minimum of 12 line pairs/mm or a total of 300 line pairs across a diameter. Photon gains as high as 20,000 have been measured. Application of this intensifier to nuclear track photography is described.