High Resolution Ultraviolet Sensor

High resolution image sensors, sensitive in the near to mid ultraviolet, and suitable for use in space are needed to improve the ability to detect and track objects in space. Such image sensors would also find use in atmospheric pollution measurements and ground based imaging of ionospheric phenomena against the sky background. The ultraviolet sensitive image sensors currently employed for these applications are limited in spatial resolution and sensitivity, dominated by the detective quantum efficiency and spatial frequancy response of the image intensifier tubes employed in most of these imaging systems. The proposed study will investigate ultraviolet image sensor concepts that afford the prospect of higher spatial resolution and higher detective quantum efficiency, keeping in mind both space missions and ground based applications that would lead to commercialization.