Photek present poster on "Development & performance of the Capacitive Division Imaging Readout (CDIR) detector, and future applications" at PhotoDet 2012

We present results from a photon-counting microchannel plate (MCP) imaging detector using the Capacitive Division Image Readout (C-DIR), designed to provide moderate position resolution (of the order of 100x100 pixels^2), with timing resolution of 25 ps and a maximum event rate of 10 MHz, limited by microchannel plate count rate saturation. The NINO and HPTDC ASIC combination, developed at CERN, simultaneously provide picosecond event timing and time over threshold determination of charge amplitude as required for position sensitivity using a centroiding technique. Measurements of the detector's performance will be presented, with a discussion of our experience with utilising ASICs designed for high energy physics for alternative applications.

These electronics, in principle, can be extended to provide sub-pixel resolution for multi-anode MCP detectors, SiPM arrays and other similar multi-channel devices. This approach can combine the parallel event readout capabilities of multi-channel detectors, with the higher resolution provided by centroiding imaging algorithms. This addresses the traditional limitation of using centroiding techniques in high event rate applications, where the serial nature of these devices coupled with slow shaping amplifiers limits the maximum event rate.