Microchannel plate detectors for ultraviolet astronomy

In the near future, after the shutdown of the Hubble Space Telescope, observational access to the ultraviolet (UV) will be quite limited. Therefore, small missions with short development times are required to bridge the gap in this important wavelength domain. Despite the progress in adapting silicon sensors for the UV, single-photon-counting and visible-blind microchannel plate (MCP) detectors can still provide a superior signal-to-noise performance, particularly in the far-UV, and enable simple instrument designs for small and cheap missions. Our MCP detector development aims at reaching enhanced sensitivity and increased lifetime with lower size, mass, and power consumption. Therefore, the design comprises (Al)GaN photocathodes with a tunable long-wavelength cut-off, long-life borosilicate MCPs, and a cross-strip anode with an FPGA-based readout. In this contribution, we report on the overall status of the detector development, present the latest characterization results, and give an outlook on the mission prospects.