CURVED CHANNEL MCP IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM

CURVED CHANNEL MICROCHANNEL PLATES (C2 MCP) HAVE BEEN PROPOSED FOR USE IN A NUMBER OF SCIENTIFIC AND ASTRONOMICAL APPLICATIONS. THIS SINGLE STAGE HIGH GAIN, HIGH SPACIAL RESOLUTION DEVICE IS AN IDEAL DETECTOR FOR SPACE FLIGHT APPLICATIONS. THE PERFORMANCE OF THE CURVED CHANNEL PLATE CAN BE SIGNIFICANTLY ENHANCED THROUGH THE ELIMINATION OF TWO MAJOR MECHANICAL SHORTCOMINGS. THE FIRST AREA TO BE ADDRESSED IS THE UNIFORMITY OF CHANNEL CURVATURE. NON-UNIFORMITY OF CHANNEL CURVATURE CAN CAUSE GAIN VARIATIONS, LOCALIZED PHOTOCATHODE DEGRADATION CAUSED BY POOR ION TRAPPING, NON-UNIFORM PULSE HEIGHT DISTRIBUTION AND DYNAMIC RANGE LIMITATIONS. CURRENTLY, MANY SYSTEMS RELYON A PRE-LAUNCH CALIBRATION TO "NORMALIZE" THE GAIN OF THE ARRAY. THE WORK EFFORT ON CHANNEL CURVATURE NON-UNIFORMITY WILL CENTER AROUND DEVELOPING A THOROUGH UNDERSTANDING OF THE MECHANICS AND THERMODYNAMICS OF CHANNEL BENDING THROUGH AN INTENSIVE COMPUTER MODELING OF THE PROCESS COUPLED WITH PROCESS AND PRODUCT ANALYSIS. A SECOND AREA TO BE ADDRESSED IS THE AREA OF BLEMISHES. BLEMISHES ARE SMALL VOIDS IN THE GLASS STRUCTURE WHICH CAN CAUSE DEAD AREAS OR "HOT SPOTS" IN THE IMAGING AREA. THIS WORK EFFORT WILL CENTER AROUND A MATERIALS ANALYSIS OF THE BLEMISHED MATERIAL UTILIZING AUGER OR EDAX.