A new instrument for high statistics measurement of photomultiplier characteristics

TL;DR

This paper introduces a new instrument designed for high-throughput, detailed characterization of small photomultiplier tubes, enhancing the efficiency and precision of PMT testing for large-scale physics experiments.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel instrument capable of calibrating hundreds of small PMTs daily, measuring multiple characteristics with high accuracy, improving upon existing testing methods.

Findings

Capable of calibrating hundreds of PMTs per day

Measures dark counts, signal amplitude, and pulse characteristics

Provides detailed transit time and spread measurements

Abstract

Since the early days of experimental particle physics photomultipliers (PMTs) have played an important role in the detector design. Thanks to their capability of fast photon counting, PMTs are extensively used in the new-generation of astroparticle physics experiments, such as air, ice and water Cherenkov detectors. Small size PMTs ($\leq $ 3 inches diameter) show little sensitivity to the Earth magnetic field, small transit time, stable transit time spread; the price per photocathode area is less comparing to the one for the large area PMTs, typically used so far in such applications. Together with developments and reduced price of multichannel electronics, the use of PMTs of 3-inches or smaller diameter is a promising option even for nowadays large volume detectors. In this paper we report on the design and performance of a new instrument for mass characterisation of PMTs (from 1 inch to 3 inches size), capable to calibrate hundreds of PMTs per day and provide measurements of dark counts, signal amplitude, late-, delayed-, pre- and after-pulses, transit time and transit time spread.