Delay line readout of microchannel plates

A two-dimensional delay line readout to be used with large-diameter (127-mm) microchannel plates (MCPs) has been developed. High spatial resolutions (25 mu m FWHM for an MCP gain of 2*10/sup 7/) and excellent linearity of position readout (less than +or-65- mu m deviation from linearity) have been achieved in a test setup using 30-mm-diameter MCPs coupled to 140-mm*140-mm delay lines. Single-pass delays of only 176 ns allow system deadtimes of less than 1 mu s. This type of readout will be applied to imaging X-ray detectors to be used in protein crystallography.<
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