Bellis, Jonathan Gareth;
(1993)
The development of the MIC detector for space applications.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
Since the development of the original Boksenberg IPCS at UCL several innovations have led to a highly compact, lightweight detector, the MIC-IPCS. A version specially designed for space applications is described here. The design has been based around the special requirements of a space based system. The design and operation of each component of the detector is described. The detector incorporates a microchannel plate intensifier specifically designed for photon counting. The properties of the intensifier that limit the detector performance are considered. The output of the intensifier is coupled to a CCD via a fibre optic taper. The characteristics of fibre coupling are discussed and the effects the fibre taper introduces via pin cushion distortion are considered in detail. A fast scanning CCD is used as a readout device and the operation and design of the camera is described. The CCD data is presented to the image processing electronics that perform various important functions on the data. The design of each component circuit is considered in detail, in particular, a new interpolative centroiding technique has been developed. Tests were carried out to assess the performance of the detector. The results are discussed and the performance characteristics of the detector evaluated. I have been personally responsible for the design and testing of the processing electronics, the analysis of the phosphor decay characteristics of the image intensifier and for analysis of fibre taper distortion and efficiency. Additionally, when construction of the detector was complete, I took part in all the subsequent system tests and data reduction together with the other members of the group.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | The development of the MIC detector for space applications |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Thesis digitised by ProQuest. |
| Keywords: | Pure sciences; Space-based detectors |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10097321 |
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