Intensified charge coupled devices for use as a spaceborne spectrographic image-plane detector system

An instrument that has been developed for studies of atmospheric emissions from the Space Shuttle comprises an array of imaging spectrometers to observe features over the 300-12,000-A wavelength range. Each spectrometer has a 2-D image-plane detector system on which spectral information is dispersed in one direction and spatial information is resolved in the other. The detectors consist of CCD arrays which are coupled to proximity focused image intensifiers. The intensifier in each case is selected for the wavelength range covered by the particular spectrometer. The result is a compact low-power spectrographic detector system. In the course of building the five flight detector systems, there was occasion to evaluate a larger number of the charge coupled devices and the proximity focused image intensifiers. Various characteristics, advantages, and shortcomings of these devices and the overall intensified CCD system are reported.