Institut für Astronomie und Astrophysik Abteilung Astronomie Sand 1, D-72076 Tübingen, Germany
Hinweis: Einige Seiten auf astro.uni-tuebingen.de können veraltet sein und werden nicht mehr aktualisiert. Note: Some webpages at astro.uni-tuebingen.de may be outdated and will no longer be updated.

Preprint 04a/12

Low-power readout electronics for microchannel plate detectors with cross strip anodes

M. Pfeifer (1), J. Barnstedt (1), C. Bauer (2), S. Diebold (1), S. Hermanutz (1), C. Kalkuhl (1), N. Kappelmann (1), S. Löchner (2,3), T. Schanz (1), M. Schmelling (2), K. Werner (1)

(1) IAAT - Insitut für Astronomie und Astrophysik, Sand 1, 72076 Tübingen, Germany
(2) MPIK - Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117 Heidelberg, Germany
(3) Now at GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt, Germany

Proc. SPIE 8443 (2012), 84432O-1

Abstract. The World Space Observatory - Ultraviolet (WSO-UV) will be the only space telescope for the ultraviolet wavelength range between 102 and 310 nm during the next decade. It is a multinational project under Russian leadership with contributions from Ukraine and Spain. Its main instrument, the WSO-UV Spectrographs (WUVS), was designed by IAAT in collaboration with the Leibniz Institut für Analytische Wissenschaften, Berlin. We are developing the corresponding microchannel plate detectors using new combinations of materials for the photocathode as well as a 64 by 64 cross strip anode for event position determination. Charge pre-amplification is performed by the Beetle chip designed at the ASIC laboratory of the MPIK for LHCb at CERN. It has 128 pre-amplifiers on one die and provides the analog output in a four-fold serial stream. This stream is digitized by four ADCs and processed in a Microsemi RTAX FPGA. Processed data are sent to the instrument control unit via a SpaceWire interface. This concept results in one order of magnitude reduced power consumption in comparison to the use of conventional pre-amplifiers as well as a reduced volume, weight and complexity of the readout electronics. This paper presents the architecture of the electronics and details of the FPGA design as well as an estimation of the performance of our setup.
 
Key words: Ultraviolet, Observatory, WSO-UV, Future missions, Microchannel plate, Cross strip anode, Beetle chip

Preprint (7,52 Mb PDF file including figures)

[Home Page] [Preprints 2012] [Quick Reference] [Feedback]

| Impressum Last modified 22 Oct 2012