Detector system with high time resolution for the continuous measurement of spectra in the vacuum ultraviolet wavelength range

A new detector system with high time resolution (1 ms) has been developed and applied for the continuous measurement of spectra in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) wavelength region at the fusion plasma experiment Torus Experiment for Technology-Oriented Research (TEXTOR). The system consists of an open multichannel-plate (MCP) detector with subsequent first generation (Gen I) light amplifier and a camera head which is based on a linear photodiode array with 1024 elements (pixels). The camera head provides the output signals of the individual pixels sequentially as an analog voltage with a full spectra rate of 1000 per second, which are measured using a PC-based data acquisition system. Three vacuum spectrometers operating in the VUV/EUV region (10-130 nm) have been equipped with the new system and a successful campaign of measurements from about 4000 discharges at TEXTOR has been performed. Spectra are recorded with a usable linear dynamic range of 10 bit and a wavelength resolution corresponding to a width of 3-4 pixels. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.