Cross-strip anodes for microchannel plate imaging detectors

Microchannel plate (MCP), detectors are currently being used with great success on many recent NASA and ESA missions. These include SOHO, ALEXIS, EUVE, ACE, ORFEUS and sounding rocket experiments. Similar devices are in preparation for satellites such as IMAGE, FUSE, COS-HST, and the GALEX mission. For some of these missions we have pioneered the development of planar and multilayer centroid position readout anodes in the form of delay line image readout system for high resolution, large format, photon counting MCP detectors. Derived from these concepts we have devised a new type of readout system, the cross strip anode, for future mission applications which may offer significantly performance advances. Our objective is to provide a highly adaptable sensor for sub-orbital and satellite instruments which combines very high sped photon counting with high spatial resolution, low power, low mass/volume, high sensitivity, low background and high time resolution. The multilayer crossed strip position encoding anode uses two sets of orthogonal strip arrays to collect charge from a microchannel plate stack. Event position centroids are then computed using multichannel high sped electronics. A prototype system is currently under evaluation and we ultimately expect to achieve high resolution at low gain, with low power, high counting rates and low mass for a wide range of adaptable senor formats.