Study of Ultraviolet Photon Counting Detector with Delay-Line Anode

Delay-line anode detector based on MCP electron multiplier detect the incident photon's location by the arrival time difference of the MCP output charge pulse at each end of delay line. Due to their high spatial resolution and high counting rate, photon counting detectors with delay line anode have been widely used in ultraviolet spectral imaging systems. Operational principle of ultraviolet photon detector based on delay line anode is analyzed, and a novel two-dimensional serpentine delay line anode is designed. Electron cloud output from MCP is collected only by the anode surface. The upper serpentine delay line receives the MCP output charge directly, while the lower serpentine delay line receives the charge using a series of pads and vias. This anode is made of printed circuit board instead of laser etching, which greatly simplifies the fabrication process. Photon counting detector with this type of anode achieves a 92 μm FWHM resolution. And the image linearity is better than 100 μm. The results of theory analysis and experiments demonstrated the feasibility of ultraviolet photon imaging system. It provides a theoretical basis and experiments guidance for the development of ultraviolet imaging spectrometers.