The spatial resolution of position-sensitive detectors that use stacks of microchannel plates (MCP’s) with high-resolution anodes can be better than 20-μm FWHM [Proc. SPIE 3114, 283–294 (1997)]. At this level of accuracy, channel misalignments of the MCP’s in the stack can cause observable moiré interference patterns. We show that the flat-field detector response can have moiré beat pattern modulations of as great as ~27% with periods from as small as a few channel diameters to as great as the size of a MCP multifiber. These modulations, however, may be essentially eliminated by rotation of the MCP’s or by a mismatch of the channel sizes. We also discuss how the modulation phenomena can be a useful tool for mapping the metric nonlinearities of MCP detector readout systems. Employing the optical moiré effect, we demonstrate a simple, but effective, technique for evaluation of geometrical deformations simultaneously over a large MCP area. For a typical MCP, with a 60-channel-wide multifiber, we can obtain accuracies of 1.2 mrad for multifiber rotations and twists and 35/(L/p) mrad for channel-long axis distortions (where L/p is MCP thickness to interchannel distance ratio). This technique may be used for the development of MCP x-ray optics, which impose tight limitations on geometrical distortions, which in turn are not otherwise easily measurable with high accuracy.

© 1999 Optical Society of America

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Citation lists with outbound citation links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Cited by links are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

You do not have subscription access to this journal. Article level metrics are available to subscribers only. You may subscribe either as an OSA member, or as an authorized user of your institution.

Contact your librarian or system administrator
or
Log in to access OSA Member Subscription

Related Journal Articles

• Ultraviolet Radiometry with Synchrotron Radiation and Cryogenic Radiometry (AO)
• Image Plates for Registration of Far-Ultraviolet Spectra (AO)
• At-Wavelength, System-Level Flare Characterization of Extreme-Ultraviolet Optical Systems (AO)
• Robust wave-front estimation from multiple directional derivatives (OL)
• Sealed-Cell Mercury Resonance Ionization Imaging Detector (AO)

Related Conference Papers

• Ti:Sapphire Lasers for Frequency Metrology Spanning the Visible and Infrared Spectrum without Nonlinear Fiber
• Ultra-sensitive ambient trace-gas sensor using CO2 lasers and photoacoustic spectroscopy
• Agricultural ammonia sensor using diode lasers and photoacoustic spectroscopy
• Real-Time Aberration Compensation without a Wavefront Sensor
• Error in vertex radius of curvature extrapolation via least-squares fit