Systematic approach to measure the performance of microchannel-plate photomultipliers

TL;DR

This paper provides a comprehensive, systematic methodology for measuring various performance parameters of MCP-PMTs, including spectral efficiency, gain, timing, and effects of magnetic fields, serving as a guide for standardized testing.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed, semi-automated measurement approach for MCP-PMT performance parameters, applicable across different setups and types.

Findings

Measured spectral and spatial quantum efficiency

Analyzed gain dependence on voltage, position, and magnetic field

Assessed time resolution, rate capability, and lifetime

Abstract

In this paper, we present our approach to systematically measure numerous performance parameters of MCP-PMTs. The experimental setups, the analyses and selected results are discussed. Although the techniques used may be different in other locations, the document is intended as a guide for comparable measurements with other types of MCP-PMTs. Measurements are shown for the following performance parameters: spectral and spatial quantum efficiency, collection efficiency, gain as a function of voltage, position and magnetic field, time resolution, rate capability and lifetime. By using a dedicated 3-axis stepper and an FPGA-based DAQ system, also inner PMT parameters are measured as a function of the active area, such as relative detection efficiency, dark count rate, time resolution, recoil electron and afterpulse distributions, as well as charge sharing and electronic crosstalk. In addition, some of the parameters are investigated inside a strong magnetic field. For many of these measurements, the change of most setup parameters and the subsequent analysis can be controlled semi-automatically by software scripts.