A h ybrid image-intensier tube, suitable for extremely low-light imaging, has been tested. This device is based on an Electron-Bombarded CCD chip (EBCCD) with 1024 1024 sensitive pixels. The tube, which has a photocathode diameter of 40 mm, is gateable and zoomable, with an image magnication varying from 0.62 to 1.3. The high gain (about 4000 collected electrons per photoelectron at the operational voltage of 15 kV) and the relatively low noise (180 electrons per pixel at 10 MHz pixelreadout frequency), allows single-photoelectron signals to be separated from noise with a signal-to-noise ratio greater than 10. By applying an appropriate threshold on the signal amplitude, the background can almost be eliminated, with a loss of few percent in single-photoelectron counting. High inner gain, low noise, single-photoelectron sensitivity, and high spatial resolution make the EBCCD imaging tube a unique device, attractive for many applications in high-energy physics, astrophysics, biomedical diagnostics.

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