A POSITION-SENSITIVE DETECTOR AND MICROCHANNEL-PLATE-INVERTER IMAGE INTENSIFIER OPERATING IN A PHOTON-COUNTING MODE

Image intensifiers with two or three microchannel plates and a positio n-sensitive detector with a wedge-and-stripe collector for recording i mages produced by single photons are described. The photocathode's spe ctral sensitivity range is 300-850 nm, the photocathode operating fiel d diameter is 25 mm; the single-electron pulse-amplitude resolution is under 80%. The limiting resolution measured against the brightness of the screen's dark background of 3.10(-3) cd/m2 is 27-32 line pairs pe r millimeter for an image intensifier with two microchannel plates and 17-21 line pairs per millimeter for an image intensifier with three m icrochannel plates. The position-sensitive device's spatial resolution is 50-60 mum.