Image Intensifier Developments in the RCA Electron Tube Division

Image intensifies in microscopy

“…On the other hand, a permanent magnet is both simpler, lighter and cheaper than a solenoid with its accompanying stabilized voltage supply; moreover the high fields required from the solenoids mean that high wattages are dissipated and that some form of cooling, usually by circulating water, is required. Cascade tubes of the phosphor-photocathode type using electrostatic focusing have been constructed (see, for example Stoudenheimer, 1960), but they have suffered from considerable pincushion distortion and loss of resolution towards the edge of their field. For most purposes, therefore, uniform electric accelerating and magnetic focusing fields would appear to be preferable.…”

Photoelectronic image intensifiers

“…The pictures they publish do appear to suffer from ' graininess ' and lack of image definition. Stoudenheimer 1960).…”

“…Cascade image tubes of two and three stages have been developed by Stoudenheimer (1960) of the Radio Corporation of America using electrostatic electron-image focusing. A tw-o-stage tube of this type is illustrated in Fig.…”