Microchannel plates (MCPs) are frequently employed with resistive anodes to detect charged particles or photons and yield analog signals from which event positions can be decoded. We discuss an anode geometry devised by C.W. Gear that offers theoretically distortionless encoding of Cartesian event positions into pulse charge ratios. Electron beam images taken with such an anode are shown, and confirm the usefulness of the approach.

Low-distortion resistive anodes for two-dimensional position-sensitive MCP systems. [Microchannel Plates for ion, electron and photon image sensing and conversion]

Low-distortion resistive anodes for two-dimensional position-sensitive MCP systems.

Single-molecule observation, characterization and manipulation techniques have recently come to the forefront of several research domains spanning chemistry, biology and physics. Due to the exquisite sensitivity, specificity, and unmasking of ensemble averaging, single-molecule fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy have become, in a short period of time, important tools in cell biology, biochemistry and biophysics. These methods led to new ways of thinking about biological processes such as viral infection, receptor diffusion and oligomerization, cellular signaling, protein-protein or protein-nucleic acid interactions, and molecular machines. Such achievements require a combination of several factors to be met, among which detector sensitivity and bandwidth are crucial. We examine here the needed performance of photodetectors used in these types of experiments, the current state of the art for different categories of detectors, and actual and future developments of single-photon counting detectors for single-molecule imaging and spectroscopy.

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Detectors for single-molecule fluorescence imaging and spectroscopy.

We describe a photon‐counting readout system for microchannel‐plate spectrometers that uses a delay line and timing circuit for the wavelength coordinate and a wedge–wedge charge division system for the orthogonal spatial coordinate. A novel zigzag layout allows these two anode patterns to coexist on a common planar substrate and share the charge from each photoevent, thereby simultaneously localizing the photon in each of its two dimensions. Unlike wedge‐and‐strip or resistive anode encoders, the delay line offers a spatial resolution that is relatively independent of the format length. Unlike discrete anode systems, the delay line readout system’s complexity is also independent of the field of view size. These facts make the delay line readout system advantageous in large format detectors. We have assembled a testbed detector having a delay line propagation speed of 2.2 mm/ns and a time resolution of 33 ps FWHM. Ultraviolet testing shows a Gaussian event distribution having a 70 μm FWHM width; the readout system blur contribution is less than 50 μm FWHM.

Delay line anodes for microchannel‐plate spectrometers

The use of position‐sensitive detectors (PSDs) has become common in many spectroscopies. The increased signal provided by the parallel detection of many spectral elements affords increases in sensitivity and/or time resolution. Recently, the use of a PSD to increase the temporal resolution of an electron energy loss (EEL) spectrometer has been demonstrated in our laboratory. This article summarizes the present development of EEL spectrometers and then presents a detailed review of four classes of PSDs in the context of their potential application to EEL spectroscopy (EELS). The four classes considered are (a) discrete channel detectors, (b) coincidence array detectors, (c) charge division detectors, and (d) optical detectors imaging phosphor screens. All four designs, as typically implemented, utilize microchannel plates (MCPs) as spatially imaging electron multipliers. The performance of MCPs is reviewed and the constraints that MCP behavior at the high count rates achievable in EELS places on acceptable...

Position-sensitive detector performance and relevance to time-resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy

The production of simple and rugged photon-counting detector arrays has been made possible by recent improvements in the performance of the microchannel array plate (MCP) and by the parallel development of compatible electronic readout systems. The construction of proximity-focused MCP arrays of novel design in which photometric information from (n x m) picture elements is read out with a total of (n + m) amplifier and discriminator circuits is described. Results obtained with a breadboard (32 x 32)-element array employing 64 charge-sensitive amplifiers are presented, and the application of systems of this type in spectrometers and cameras for use with ground-based telescopes and on orbiting spacecraft discussed.

R. L. Bybee

Papers

Two-dimensional photon-counting detector arrays based on microchannel array plates