Vidicons

Vidicons

Vidicons are a type of television camera tube that was widely used in the mid-20th century. Developed in the 1950s, vidicons were an improvement over earlier camera tubes, such as the iconoscope and the orthicon. Vidicons work by using a photoconductive surface to convert light into an electrical signal, which is then amplified and transmitted to a television receiver. The photoconductive surface is coated with a layer of photoemissive material, which emits electrons when struck by light. Vidicons were popular because they were relatively compact and easy to use. They were also more sensitive to light than earlier camera tubes, which made them ideal for low-light conditions. However, vidicons had some drawbacks. They were prone to image lag, which meant that fast-moving objects could appear blurry on screen. They were also susceptible to burn-in, which is when a static image is displayed on the tube for too long and causes permanent damage. Despite their limitations, vidicons were widely used in television broadcasting until the 1980s, when they were largely replaced by newer camera technologies, such as charge-coupled devices (CCDs) and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) sensors.

television camera tube, photoconductive surface, photoemissive material, image lag, burn-in

— John Taylor