A vidicon tube is a video camera tube design in which the target
material is a photoconductor. The Vidicon was developed in the
1950s at RCA by P. K. Weimer, S. V. Forgue and R. R. Goodrich as a
simple alternative to the structurally and electrically complex
Image Orthicon.While the initial photoconductor used was selenium,
other targets-including silicon diode arrays-have been used.
Schematic of vidicon tube.
The vidicon is a storage-type camera tube in which a
charge-density pattern is formed by the imaged scene radiation on a
photoconductive surface which is then scanned by a beam of
low-velocity electrons. The fluctuating voltage coupled out to a
video amplifier can be used to reproduce the scene being imaged.
The electrical charge produced by an image will remain in the face
plate until it is scanned or until the charge dissipates.
Pyroelectric photocathodes can be used to produce a vidicon
sensitive over a broad portion of the infrared spectrum.
Prior to the design and construction of the Galileo probe to
Jupiter in the late 1970s to early 1980s, NASA used Vidicon cameras
on most of their unmanned deep space probes equipped with the
remote sensing ability
