Noiseless, kilohertz-frame-rate, imaging detector based on micro-channel plates readout with the Medipix2 CMOS pixel chip

A new hybrid imaging detector is described that is being developed for the next generation adaptive optics (AO) wavefront sensors. The detector consists of proximity focused microchannel plates (MCPs) read out by pixelated CMOS application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips developed at CERN ("Medipix2"). Each Medipix2 pixel has an amplifier, lower and upper charge discriminators, and a 14-bit chounter. The 256x256 array can be read out noiselessly (photon counting) in 286 us. The Medipix2 is buttable on 3 sides to produce 512x(n*256) pixel devices. The readout can be electronically shuttered down to a terporal window of a few microseconds with an accuracy of 10 ns. Good quantum efficiencies can be achieved from the x-ray (open faced with opaque photocathodes) to the optical (sealed tube with multialkali or GaAs photocathode).