Improved electronic readout system for an imaging photon detector

Photek manufacture microchannel-plate based Imaging Photon Detectors, which are able to detect and image single photon events enabling high resolution in both event time and position. We have developed a new system of IPD electronics that has time detection jitter of 1.5 ns and a spread of 4 ns across a pulse height distribution ratio of 10:1. The rise time of the preamplifiers is in the region of 8 ns. The noise in the electronics sets a limit on the position resolution that is smaller than the microchannel-plate pore size, typically 10 μm. We have also included a discrimination system to reject overlapping events and hence greatly reduce image distortion, and the electronics can handle events of nearly 106s−1. Further improvements include a sine wave driven high voltage unit with a high signal protection system, and a greatly reduced unit size by moving to surface mount technology.