Patterned anodes with sub-millimeter spatial resolution for large-area MCP-based photodetector systems

Micro-channel-plate-based photo-detectors are unique in being capable of covering very large areas such as those required in elementary particle and nuclear physics, while providing sub-millimeter space resolution, time resolutions of less than 10 picoseconds for charged particles, and time resolutions of 30 psec–50 psec for single photons. In such systems the electronic channel count is a major cost driver. Incorporating a capacitively-coupled anode allows the use of external pickup electrodes with patterns of individual channels optimized for occupancy, rate, and time/space resolution. The signal pickup antenna can be economically implemented as a printed circuit card with a 2-dimensional array of pads for high-occupancy/high-rate applications such as in particle colliders and medical imaging, or a 1-dimensional array of strips for a lower channel count in low-occupancy/low-rate applications such as large neutrino detectors. Here we present pad patterns that enhance signal-sharing between pads to lower the channel count per unit area in large-area systems by factors up to 4, while maintaining spatial resolutions of approximately 100 to $200\mu m$ for charged particles and 400 to $1000\mu m$ for single photons. Patterns that use multiple signal layers in the signal-pickup board can lower the channel count even further, moving the scaling behavior in the number of pads versus total area from quadratic to linear.