Investigation of a resistive anode detector for astronomical spectroscopy
Abstract
A large format two dimensional photon counting detector has
been evaluated as a detector for astronomical spectroscopy. The
design comprises an 320 photocathode, a tandem MCP gain stage and a
circular arc terminated resisitive anode to provide pOSitional
coordinates of detected events. The system is run from an LSI 11/23
computer operating under FORTH control.
The micro-channel plate operating characteristics and the
detector's resolution, quantum efficiency and imaging performance
have been studied. The principal areas requiring design improvement
are found to be the micro-channel plate gain,
processing and photocathode quality.
electronic signal
The detector has been employed in a observing program on a
0.5 m telescope. Spectra of IAU faint radial velocity standards and
the eclipsing binary system s-l Cam have been obtained and analysed
to assess the system's performance.
Type
Thesis, PhD Doctor of Philosophy
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