Energy distribution of output electrons from a microchannel plate

Abstract

The output energy spread of a microchannel plate has been studied experimentally in a wide range of operating conditions. The energy distribution is found to consist of a sharp main peak with the full width at half-maximum of a few electron volts and a long tail extending over a wide energy range. These two components are presumably caused by two distinct regions of the potential distribution near the output end produced by the electrode penetrating into a certain depth within the microchannels. The tail component shows a significant change, particularly in the unsaturated operation mode. The resultant variation in the relative number of high-energy output electrons may have a detrimental effect on the spatial resolution of the image intensifier.