Characterization of the Hamamatsu 8" R5912-MOD Photomultiplier Tube

TL;DR

This paper characterizes the Hamamatsu R5912-MOD photomultiplier tube, demonstrating its suitability for large-scale neutrino and dark matter detection experiments due to its excellent timing and charge response.

Contribution

It provides detailed measurements of the R5912-MOD's single photoelectron response, including timing, charge, and after pulsing characteristics, comparing it to similar PMTs.

Findings

Transit time spread of 680ps

Charge peak-to-valley of 4.2

Narrow timing spread makes it suitable for future experiments

Abstract

Current and future neutrino and direct detection dark matter experiments hope to take advantage of improving technologies in photon detection. Many of these detectors are large, monolithic optical detectors that use relatively low-cost, large-area, and efficient photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). A candidate PMT for future experiments is a newly developed prototype Hamamatsu PMT, the R5912-MOD. In this paper we describe measurements made of the single photoelectron time and charge response of the R5912-MOD, as well as detail some direct comparisons to similar PMTs. Additionally, a 1D scan of the photocathode and an after pulsing measurement were performed. Most of these measurements were performed on three R5912-MOD PMTs operating at gains close to $1 \times 10^{7}$. The transit time spread ($\sigma$) and the charge peak-to-valley were measured to be on average 680ps and 4.2 respectively. The results of this paper show the R5912-MOD is an excellent candidate for future experiments in several regards, particularly due to its narrow spread in timing.