A unique instrument now exists, which can be used to fabricate monolithic, high-gain microchannel plates, via the "shearing" approach. It will accommodate MCP blanks ranging in size from 20mm to 85mm diameter. By design, it will produce both "C" and "J" type profile geometries. Present research indicates that a custom blank is required, whose matrix wallthickness is made substantially larger than normal practice. This will require the fabrication of a stating boule, with an innovative blend of glasses and geometry. The objective of this program is to procure custom 25mm format MCP boule material from a commercial manufacturer, shear the blanks and fabricate high-gain, 15um resolution devices. Final gain is determined by plate length-to-diameter (channel thk.:pore dia.) ratio. Ratios of 100:1 and 120:1 will be tried, in an effort to provide plates demonstrating usable gains in excess of 5 x 105, at bias voltages below 2500 VDC and strip currents below 20 uA.Many NASA specific, scientific applications exist, which would benefit from a substitute for the chevron type or improvement of the commercially available, sheared MCP. Programs in space physics use MCP's, such as SOHO and Hubble. Other applications exist in ion microscopy, surface science and particle physics.detector, microchannel, electron multiplier, astronomy, MCP, imaging, ultravioletSTATUS: Phase I Only
