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PhotonPix: Single-Photon Detector with 10 ps timing precision and high dynamic range

D. A. Orlov, Y. Prokazov, E. Turbin, E. Kernen

Abstract

A plug-and-play PhotonPix single-photon detector with a logical signal output is developed for applications requiring ultimate timing precision down to 10 ps over a wide dynamic photon flux range. The heart of the detector is an Exosens Fast Timing Microchannel Plate Photomultiplier (FT MCP-PMT) with a large 8 mm diameter sensitive area, which can accommodate various Hi-QE photocathodes optimized for high quantum efficiency (QE) and low dark rates. The detector dead time, timing accuracy, and counting efficiency of the PhotonPix are measured and analyzed over a wide dynamic photon flux range up to about 1 GHz in burst mode and up to 100~MHz in continuous operation mode.

PhotonPix: Single-Photon Detector with 10 ps timing precision and high dynamic range

Abstract

A plug-and-play PhotonPix single-photon detector with a logical signal output is developed for applications requiring ultimate timing precision down to 10 ps over a wide dynamic photon flux range. The heart of the detector is an Exosens Fast Timing Microchannel Plate Photomultiplier (FT MCP-PMT) with a large 8 mm diameter sensitive area, which can accommodate various Hi-QE photocathodes optimized for high quantum efficiency (QE) and low dark rates. The detector dead time, timing accuracy, and counting efficiency of the PhotonPix are measured and analyzed over a wide dynamic photon flux range up to about 1 GHz in burst mode and up to 100~MHz in continuous operation mode.
Paper Structure (4 sections, 4 figures)

This paper contains 4 sections, 4 figures.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Fast-Timing FT-8 MCP-PMT
  3. PhotonPix™ architecture
  4. Ultimate timing resolution in wide photon dynamic range

Figures (4)

  • Figure 1: Left: Quantum efficiency spectra for various Hi-QE series photocathodes. Right: Typical pulse height distribution (PHD) of the FT-8 MCP-PMT with a mean gain of about $1.1 \times 10^{6}$ (dark blue).
  • Figure 2: Left: Image of the PhotonPix (top) and schematic of the integrated photon detector module (bottom). Right: Waveforms from the analog and logical NIM outputs (top) and an oscilloscope trace of the NIM channel used as a trigger, integrated over several seconds, demonstrating a very low detector dead time of about 1.6 ns (bottom).
  • Figure 3: Left: Oscilloscope screenshot for burst-illumination measurements. Ch. 1: 64 MHz probe laser reference; Ch. 2: LED pulse reference; Ch. 3 and Ch. 4: 50 $\Omega$ analog and logical NIM outputs. Right: Transit time spread measured with the probe laser beam at PE rates of 22 MHz (top) and 260 MHz (bottom).
  • Figure 4: Left: Jitter versus PE burst rate varied by adjusting the LED intensity; the dashed line shows the interpolation. Right: Detector counting efficiency versus PE rate measured in continuous illumination (blue, with dashed interpolation) and burst mode (red), with the black line showing the calculated curve for a detector dead time of 1.58 ns.