Near UV Imager with an MCP Based Photon Counting Detector

摘要

We are developing a compact UV Imager using light weight components, that canbe flown on a small CubeSat or a balloon platform. The system has a lens-basedoptics that can provide an aberration-free image over a wide field of view. Thebackend instrument is a photon counting detector with off-the-shelf MCP, CMOSsensor and electronics. We are using a Z-stack MCP with a compact high voltagepower supply and a phosphor screen anode, which is read out by a CMOS sensorand the associated electronics. The instrument can be used to observe solarsystem objects and detect bright transients from the upper atmosphere with thehelp of CubeSats or high altitude balloons. We have designed the imager to becapable of working in direct frame transfer mode as well in the photon-countingmode for single photon event detection. The identification and centroiding ofeach photon event are done using an FPGA-based data acquisition and real-timeprocessing system.