A pulse dilation photomultiplier tube (PD-PMT) has been developed. The photoelectrons energy is modulated by a time-dependent electric field between photocathode and ground mesh. Then, the photoelectron pulse is dilated as it transits in a relatively long drift region from mesh to microchannel plate (MCP). The dilated electron pulse is gained by the MCP and then detected by the output collector. Because the temporal width is magnified, the temporal resolution of the photomultiplier tube is better than that of the output collector alone. The result shows that the temporal resolution of the detector is improved to be 25 ps by using pulse-dilation technology, which is much better than 300 ps temporal resolution while without pulse-dilation. The ramp electrical pulse dilates the electron signal to improve the temporal response by about 10 times.
X-ray diode is an essential instrument for the measurement of the radiation flow in the inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiment. The time resolution of the traditional X-ray diode is about 100 ps, which needs improvement. A newly electronic pulse-dilation technique can greatly improve the time resolution of the high-speed diagnostic instrument. Here, an ultrafast X-ray diode with electronic pulse-dilation technique is presented, which includes a pulse-dilation device and an anode electron detector. The pulse-dilation X-ray diode is theoretical and experimental researched. The time resolution of the X-ray diode is approximately 261 ps without electronic signal pulse-dilation, and it will be improved to 19 ps by using the pulse-dilation technique.
The energy distribution of output electrons (EDOE) from a microchannel plate (MCP) is measured using electrons emitted by a vacuum photodiode excited by a 266 nm Ti-sapphire femtosecond laser. The photoelectrons emitted from the photocathode are focused on a specific location of the MCP by a magnetic lens. While exist an enough voltage difference between the two ends of MCP, the energy distribution curve of output electrons form MCP can be obtained by analyzing the data as function of the bias voltage applied to the charge collector. The result shows that the energy distribution curve obtained by this means consists of a sharp and a long tail when using pulse light source. The most probable electron energy (MPE) is 12.64 eV and the full width at half maximum (FWHM) of the energy distribution curve is about 29.23 eV while the applied voltage difference is 700 V in the experimental setup. The MPE is 10.63 eV and the FWHM of the energy distribution is 22.436 eV in simulation. The measured curve is consistent with the expectation from simulation.
16 May 2024 in IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
High-voltage ultrafast pulses can be effectively used to control the gated traveling-wave amplitude division of microchannel plates. In view of that and according to the microstrip transmission theory, this study proposes a pulse generator based on the Marx circuit of a field-effect tube. In this study, detailed designs of the proposed pulse generator are presented and validated by simulations using the OrCAD PSpice. An experimental setup is constructed to demonstrate the viability of the proposed design. Finally, an optimized pulse with a 2.2-kV amplitude and a 220-ps width is generated. This article provides a reference for future design of advanced direct capacitor discharge pulse generator with adjustable pulse parameters using the silicon carbide field effect.