Reborn quadrant anode image sensor

Abstract We describe a position sensitive photon counting microchannel plate based detector with an improved quadrant anode (QA) readout system. The technique relies on a combination of the four planar elements pattern and an additional fifth electrode. The charge cloud induced by single particle detection is split between the electrodes. The measured charge values uniquely define the position of the initial event. QA has been first published in 1976 by Lampton and Malina. This anode configuration was undeservedly forgotten and its potential has been hardly underestimated. The presented approach extends the operating spatial range to the whole sensitive area of the microchannel plate surface and demonstrates good linearity over the field of view. Therefore, the novel image sensor results in spatial resolution better then 50 μ m and count rates up to one million events per second.