ELECTRON MULTIPLIER ARRAY PARTICLE DETECTORS

THE RESEARCHERS PRESENT A NEW CLASS OF ELECTRON MULTIPLIER ARRAYS (EMA) FOR PARTICLE DETECTION, AND A METHOD OF MANUFACTURE FOR THEM. THESE DEVICES ARE PHYSICALLY SIMILAR TO AVAILABLE MICRO CHANNEL PLATES (MCP), BUT CAN BE MADE WITH MICRON AND SUBMICRON CHANNELS OF ARBITRARY SHAPES. SINCE OUTPUT PULSE TIMING CHARACTERISTICS SCALE LINEARLY WITH CHANNEL SIZE, THESE SMALL-FEATURED EMAS WILL HAVE APPROXIMATELY TEN TIMES BETTER RESPONSE AND BANDWIDTH THAN CONVENTIONAL MCPS. THE ELECTRON MULTIPLICATION CHANNELS MAYHAVE ARBITRARY GEOMETRY TO INCREASE SINGLE STAGE GAIN WHILE SUPPRESSING ION FEEDBACK. POSSIBILITIES FOR PRODUCING CURVED SURFACE DETECTOR ARRAYS AND INTEGRATED DETECTOR/SIGNAL PROCESSORS EXIST AND WILL BE EXPLORED.