Characterization of the Hamamatsu H12700A-03 and R12699-03 multi-anode photomultiplier tubes

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive characterization of Hamamatsu's H12700A-03 and R12699-03 multi-anode photomultiplier tubes, analyzing their performance, cross-talk, and environmental stability for high energy physics applications.

Contribution

It offers detailed measurements and analysis of the devices' parameters, including gain, uniformity, dark current, and effects of magnetic fields and temperature, highlighting their suitability for RICH detectors.

Findings

High gain and low dark current achieved

Cross-talk among neighboring pixels characterized

Stable performance under magnetic fields and temperature variations

Abstract

The H12700 is a novel 64-channel 52 $\times$ 52 mm$^2$ square Multi-Anode PhotoMultiplier Tube (MaPMT) produced by Hamamatsu. Its characteristics make this device suitable for high energy physics applications, such as in Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detectors. Hamamatsu provides the H12700 tube with an embedded socket connecting the anodes to the output pins and including an active voltage divider. A second device version, the R12699, is also available and differs from the former by the absence of the socket. This paper describes a complete characterization of both models, starting from the standard operating parameters (single photon spectra, average gain, anode uniformity and dark current value), investigating in detail the cross-talk effect among neighbouring pixels and considering the behaviour in critical environment conditions, such as in presence of a static magnetic field up to 100 Gauss, at different operating temperatures and after long exposure to intense light.