Abstract

The High Resolution Camera (HRC) [12] is one of four instruments selected for detailed design definition as a focal plane detector for an upcoming NASA mission - the Advanced X-Ray Astrophysics Facility (AXAF) [2], which is scheduled for launch at the end of calendar year 1996. The camera is a microchannel plate (MCP) based detector utilizing a CsI photocathode to enhance X-ray quantum efficiency in the 0.1 to 10.0 keV energy band. An electronic readout provides better than 25pm FWHM spatial resolution over a 100mm x 100mm active area. The HRC is closely related to the High Resolution Imaging Detector (HRI) which was successfully flown on the Einstein (HEAO-2) Observatory [3] from 1978 to 1981. A similar detector has been built for the ROSAT Observatory [4] which is scheduled to be launched in February of 1990. The major differences between the HRC and its predecessors are in overall size (20 times greater active area), quantum efficiency (3 to 4 times higher), count rate limitation ( 2 to 5 times greater count rate), background (3 to 5 times lower), and energy resolution below 2 keV (some compared to none). While ,the basic x-ray detector is similar to previous instruments, the electronic readout and processing chain of the HRC incorporate major im-

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