Design of a multi-anode microchannel array detector system

The Multi-Anode Microchannel Array (MAMA) is a photon counting detector which utilizes a photocathode for photon to electron conversion, a microchannel plate for signal amplification and a proximity focused anode array for position sensitivity. The detector electronics decode the position of an event through coincidence discrimination. These detectors are designed to provide high spatial and temporal resolution for applications in low-light level imaging and spectroscopy at ultraviolet, FUV and EUV wavelengths. Many space ultraviolet astrophysics missions such as STIS are using MAMA detector systems. Several MAMA detectors have been produced by Nanjing Electronic Devices Institute (Nanjing, China). The development of the MAMA systems based on these detectors is performed by Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology. In this paper, both the design of the MAMA detector system and the progress of the project are presented.