Focal plane array discussed

This chapter will concentrate on the very high quality detectors that are needed in scientific imagers and spectrographs, and other applications that require high sensitivity, such as acquisition and guiding, adaptive optics and interferometry. We limit our discussion to focal plane arrays - large two-dimensional arrays of pixels - as opposed to single pixel detectors (e.g., avalanche photodiodes). 

Today s IR and visible sensors are used in two general configurations. One configuration - focal plane arrays, or FPAs - includes thousands or millions of elements, accessed through a readout- integrated circuit (ROIC). They, as well as the electronics for them, are discussed in Chapters 7 and 8. 

The array system is discussed in Chapter 29. With array detection, resolution of m/z values depends both on the analyzer and the collector. Historically, the method for recording ions dispersed in space was to use a photographic plate, which was placed in the focal plane such that all ions struck the photographic plate simultaneously but at different positions along the plate, depending on m/z value. This method of detection is now rarely used because of the inconvenience of having to develop a photographic plate. 

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