A photomultiplier tube test stand and on-site measurements to characterise the performance of Photonis XP3062 photomultiplier tubes at increased background light conditions and lower gain

TL;DR

This study evaluates the performance of Photonis XP3062 photomultiplier tubes under high background light conditions, demonstrating that lowering gain can extend measurement cycles without compromising detection capabilities in astroparticle physics experiments.

Contribution

The paper provides empirical evidence that adjusting PMT gain in response to background light levels maintains performance and extends operational lifetime, enabling more effective high-energy cosmic ray measurements.

Findings

Lowering PMT gain by a factor of 10 does not significantly impair performance.

Increasing background light levels by a similar factor is manageable with gain adjustment.

Gain adjustment follows a predictable pattern, allowing for dynamic operation during observations.

Abstract

Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are widely used in astroparticle physics experiments to detect light flashes (e.g. fluorescence or Cherenkov light) from extensive air showers (EASs) initiated by statistically rare very high energy cosmic particles when travelling through the atmosphere. Their high amplification factor (gain) allows the detection of very low photon fluxes down to single photons. At the same time this sensitivity causes the gain and signal-to-noise ratio to decrease with collected charge over the lifetime of the PMT (referred to as "ageing"). To avoid fast ageing, many experiments limit the PMT operation to reasonably low night sky background (NSB) conditions. However, in order to collect more event statistics at the highest energies, it is desirable to extend the measurement cycle into (part of) nights with higher NSB levels. In case the signal-to-noise ratio remains large enough in the subsequent reconstruction of the EAS events, lowering the PMT gain in such conditions can be an option to avoid faster ageing. In this paper, performance studies under high NSB with Photonis XP3062 PMTs, as used in the fluorescence detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory, are presented. The results suggest that lowering the PMT gain by a factor of 10 while increasing the NSB level by a similar factor does not significantly affect the PMT performance and ageing behaviour so that detection and offline reconstruction of EASs are still possible. Adjusting the PMT gain according to a changing NSB level throughout a night has been shown to be possible and it follows a predictable behaviour. This allows to extend the measurement cycles of experiments, based on PMTs of type Photonis XP3062 or comparable and exposed to the NSB, to enhance the sensitivity especially at the highest energies where events are very rare.

Full text

††journal: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A

\tnotemark

✩✩† ††footnotetext: ✩✩†