Characteristic Evaluation of an Intensifier Detector for SMILE UVI.

As one of the payloads on board the Solar wind Magnetosphere Ionosphere Link Explorer (SMILE) spacecraft, the ultraviolet imager (UVI) aims to capture N2 Lyman-Birge-Hopfield (LBH) aurora continuously on a high-eccentricity orbit. The UVI instrument includes an intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) for far ultraviolet (FUV) wavelength. It comprises a sealed image intensifier, a relay lens system, a CCD, and a mechanical housing. ICCD's performance characteristics are evaluated before integrating with the optical system of the UVI, including the quantum efficiency, radiant gain, background characteristics, excess noise factor, image quality, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The testing procedure and results are presented and discussed. The results demonstrate that the comprehensive performance of the detector is good, and provide critical technical support for quantitative applications.