Effect of pro-proximity pulse voltage on the third-generation low light level image intensifiers halo effect

Abstract

In order to explore the proper working voltage for the third-generation low light level image intensifier, the influence of pro-proximity pulse voltage on image intensifier halo effect is investigated. The pulse voltage is applied to photocathode of image intensifier. Respectively change the high and low level voltage and duty ratio, image intensifier halo images are collected by high-resolution charge-coupled device (CCD). The gray distributions for pixel points on halo image central line are given and comparatively analyzed. The results show that as high level voltage and duty ratio increase, the number of pixel points whose gray value is 255 increases and the border between signal and background becomes clear. When high level voltage is above 200 V and duty ratio is above 60%, the pro-proximity voltage has not great influence on image intensifier halo effect. When low level voltage is above 2 V, photoelectrons escaping from photocathode cannot reach microchannel plate under low level voltage stage. The present investigation is beneficial to the exploration of the optimal working voltage for image intensifier and energy range of photoelectrons escaping from photocathode, and provides an experimental support for the improvement of the third-generation low light level image intensifier performance.