a small television camera tube, used in closed-circuit television and outside broadcasts, in which incident light forms an electric charge pattern on a photoconductive surface. Scanning by a low-velocity electron beam discharges the surface, producing a current in an adjacent conducting layer
See also Plumbicon
Word origin
C20: from vid(eo) + icon(oscope)
vidicon in American English
(ˈvɪdɪˌkɑn)
US
noun
a television camera pickup tube of high sensitivity in which the image is focused on a thin, transparent metal film backed with a layer of photoconductive material that is scanned with alow-velocity electron beam