A ruggedized storage tube utilizing advanced techniques of construction and mathematical analysis

A new recording storage tube is described which incorporates advanced design and construction concepts to achieve improved mechanical precision, reduction in size and weight, and reduced susceptibility to damage from shock and vibration, while retaining the essential electrical characteristics of presently-available, high-performance, single-gun tubes. By simulating the tube´s deflection and collimation systems on a digital computer, near-optimum field configurations are determined. The three-dimensional mathematical model developed in this simulation predicts shading and spot size as functions of the electric and magnetic fields. No recourse is made to field analogs such as electrolytic tanks or resistor networks. Construction techniques include (a) elimination of glass-glass and glass-metal seals subsequent to target insertion, (b) substitution of vapor-deposited internal coatings for brushed-on graphite and oxide pastes, and (c) utilization of a constant-diameter geometry to minimize the number of assembly operations and attendant sources of alignment error. Application of geometric scaling to the gun dimensions results in increased storage density to compensate for reduction in target size. Typical performance figures obtained are: resolution, 800 TV lines per diameter; shading ratio, 20/1; output current, 1.5 microamperes; output capacitance, 6 uuf.