High rate tests of the photon detection system for the LHCb RICH Upgrade

TL;DR

This paper evaluates the photon detection system for the LHCb RICH Upgrade, focusing on its performance at high event rates and the effects of bias voltage on detection efficiency.

Contribution

It provides experimental insights into the behavior of MaPMTs under high-rate conditions and identifies optimal bias voltage settings to maintain efficiency.

Findings

Photon detection efficiency decreases at 900 V with high event rates.

No efficiency loss observed at 1000 V bias voltage.

Efficiency reduction is linked to increased event rate and bias voltage.

Abstract

The photon detection system for the LHCb RICH Upgrade consists of an array of multianode photomultiplier tubes (MaPMTs) read out by custom-built modular electronics. The behaviour of the whole chain was studied at CERN using a pulsed laser. Threshold scans were performed in order to study the MaPMT pulse-height spectra at high event rates and different photon intensities. The results show a reduction in photon detection efficiency at 900 V bias voltage, marked by a 20 % decrease in the single-photon peak height, when increasing the event rate from 100 kHz to 20 MHz. This reduction was not observed at 1000 V bias voltage.