PhotonicScience
ION IMAGING SYSTEMS
Systems for imaging +ve ions and -ve ions (electrons)
Photonic Science’s Special IonImaging systems have beendesigned for use in positiveand/or negative Ion (electron)imaging applications includingTime of Flight and similarstudies.
The systems are usually supplied astwo component units, an Open Faced
Micro-Channel Plate Detector
(OFMCPD) assembly and a (gated)
intensified CCD camera. This design
allows the imaging intensified camera
to be de-mounted from the system to
allow “baking” of the rest of the experi-
mental apparatus to be performed
without the risk of damage to the
camera. Where the Ion
imaging system
will never be required to undergo “baking” a
single module construction with the camera
permanently mounted to the OFMCPD assembly
can be offered.The OFMCPD normally comprises two matchedmicro-channel plates in Chevron formation to give
the desired detector gain, although single and
triple plate units can be supplied where required
by the application. Micro-channel plates withdifferent active area diameters can be supplied
depending on the application requirements and
the size of vacuum flange that the experimental
apparatus can accommodate. A typical configura-
tion would be a OFMCPD with 2 x 40mm active
diameter MCPs in Chevron configuration with the
assembly mounted on a CF100 “Conflat” flange.A range of camera options are also available tosuit individual requirements. The most popular is
a video rate ICCD camera (available in either
CCIR or EIA RS170 format), featuring a low
noise, high performance intensifier tube with
GATING down to 50 nsecs width (25 nsec rise/
fall time). The camera gating is triggered via a
TTL signal to a BNC connector on the camera
head with the gating pulse being generated from Fig 1 Open Faced Micro-Channel Plate Detector with 4 MHVfeedthroughs for +ve and -ve ion (or electron) imaging with
ISIS 3000 intensified CCD video camera.a suitable user supplied source (or alternatively PSLcan supply custom pulse generator / delay units if
required). Other camera options include high resolu-
tion, digital, gated camera units for greater spatial
resolution and higher signal dynamic range (with up
to 1300(h) x 1030(v) pixels and 12-bit image data
depth being available).The video camera systems output standard CCIR(or RS170 / EIA) format for easy integration with
third party and custom image acquisition systems.
Photonic Science also offer PhotoLite and Image
Pro Plus based acquisition, enhancement and
analysis systems with advanced Real Time Integra-
tion drivers. The
digital camera options require suit-
able acquisition software and digital frame grabber,
such as PhotoLite / Image Pro Plus and supported
frame grabbers supplied by Photonic Science.
Photonic Science can also supply complete
Windows PC based image acquisition and analysis
systems fully configured and ready to run straight
from the box.Photonic Science can in addition offer customisedsystems for special applications and multi-detector
arrays for advanced systems.
