Super high sensitive camera tube for HDTV hand-held cameras

We have developed a compact HDTV camera tube that combines high sensitivity with high resolution and is compact enough for hand-held cameras. This new camera tube employs an 8-micrometers -thick HARP (High-gain Avalanche Rushing amorphous Photoconductor) target. Unlike other photoconductors, this target is unique in that its sensitivity can be increased to very high levels to cope with darker illumination. In addition, we have achieved high resolution over the entire picture through the use of a new all-electrostatic focusing and deflection system in the 18-mm-diameter tube that facilitates the use of a narrow electron beam while assuring the optimal suppression of aberration. a prototype hand-held HDTV camera equipped with three of these camera tubes has attained a maximum sensitivity of 2,000 lux at f/25 (normal gain) and a limiting resolution of more than 1,400 TV lines.