Abstract

The characteristics and performance of a Ranicon photon-counting system combined with digital tape recording are described. The most important features are a bialkali photocathode response over 256 × 256 digital pixels, with ~100 × 100 resolvable pixels at 50% MTF, a dead time of 16 μsec/count, a maximum recordable count rate of 14,400/sec, and a background of <1 count/digital pixel/h. A video cassette recorder serves for the digital recording which retains the temporal sequence of the registered photons. Astronomical applications will include low light level quantitative imaging and speckle imaging.

© 1982 Optical Society of America

Image Orthicon Astronomy at the Dearborn Observatory

William T. Powers and Richard S. Aikens
Appl. Opt. 2(2) 157-163 (1963)

Low-light-level charge-coupled device imaging in astronomy

J. Anthony Tyson
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 3(12) 2131-2138 (1986)

Speckle imaging with the PAPA detector

Costas Papaliolios, Peter Nisenson, and Steven Ebstein
Appl. Opt. 24(2) 287-292 (1985)

Progress in low-light-level charge-coupled device imaging in astronomy

J. A. Tyson
J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 7(7) 1231-1236 (1990)

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

William E. McClintock, Charles A. Barth, Robert E. Steele, George M. Lawrence, and J. Gethyn Timothy
Appl. Opt. 21(17) 3071-3079 (1982)