Characterization of the Hamamatsu S8664 Avalanche Photodiode for X-Ray and VUV-light detection

TL;DR

This paper reports the first characterization of Hamamatsu S8664 avalanche photodiodes for detecting xenon scintillation light and X-rays, highlighting their non-linear response and quantum efficiency at specific wavelengths and energies.

Contribution

It provides the first operational data on Hamamatsu S8664 APDs for VUV-light and X-ray detection, including response behavior and efficiency measurements.

Findings

Non-linear response to X-ray detection at 22.1 keV and 5.9 keV.

Quantum efficiency of 69% at 172 nm.

Response varies with bias voltage and photon energy.

Abstract

We present the first operation of the Avalanche Photodiode (APD) from Hamamatsu to xenon scintillation light and to direct X-rays of 22.1 keV and 5.9 keV. A large non-linear response was observed for the direct X-ray detection. At 415 V APD bias voltage it was of about 30 % for 22.1 keV and about 45 % for 5.9 keV. The quantum efficiency for 172 nm photons has been measured to be 69 +/- 15 %.