IN SITU AMPLIFICATION OF A SIGNAL STORED UPON A DIELECTRIC SURFACE

Electrostatic latent image development (ELID) is a method of amplifying storage tube information in which electronic charge patterns stored upon a target may be enhanced by secondary emission upon the incidence of a flood beam. Experimental evidence is given for this effect, using the WX-4384 electrostatic slow scan vidicon and the WX-5074 Optechon storage camera tube, showing measured gains greater than 16 times. There has been demonstrated gain which brought a signal, originally completely obscured by target disturbance, up to a level that is easily discernible. There is a definite increase in signal-to-noise ratio. The analytical expression derived for the gain as a function of electron charge incident on the storage surface during the action and the voltage of the first crossover indicates that large gains may be possible for small stored signals. Copyright © 1969 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc.