Imaging Soft X-Rays Using a Microchannel Plate

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Hintz, Maureen L. | Olsen, Daniel S. | Moody, J. Ward | Madsen, David W.

Affiliations: Department of Physics and Astronomy, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA. | MOXTEK, Inc. 452 West 1260 North, Orem, UT 84057, USA.

Abstract: The GOLDHELOX Project is a student run project to construct a robotic solar telescope that will be used to take images of the sun in the soft X-ray region (171181Å) of the spectrum. The optical system uses a microchannel plate (MCP) detector. We tested the MCP to familiarize ourselves with and verify that MCP's can be used to image soft X-rays. Soft X-rays were created by a Manson source attached to a proportional counter to determine the amount of emitted X-rays detected by the MCP. The voltages on the MCP were varied to observe responses of varying voltage differences. Most of the observations were visible observations along with images made by a 35 mm camera with a telephoto lens. We found the 1000 V difference to produce the strongest and clearest images.

Journal: Journal of X-Ray Science and Technology, vol. 7, no. 3-4, pp. 211-214, 1997