They're interesting in that they let you keep track of the number of photons in a pulse.
APDs in general have a very narrow dynamic range compared with PMTs--they have far, far higher dark count rates and saturate much sooner. These segmented ones are better, and are a lot more rugged, but still won't touch a PMT for dynamic range.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
We're starting to do some research to replace the existing Photo Multiplier tubes used in the vessels of SF6 gas where very high voltages are created.(5Mev). etc...
Currently, we have 4 zones of photo multiplier tubes to detect the smallest photon count possible in the event of an arc or starting of one.
As some of you may guess, these littler dears are starting to become a relic and are now doing research to replace them with a solid state approach...
Our current systems use 8 and 12 stage units, I think the 8 stage units are actually enough sensitivity..
Looking at the link below, have any of you had experience with these types of Photon counter components? Over exposure side effects etc.
Interesting. We were actually doing this to detect the presents of the smallest amount. I really don't think we need the dynamic range a PMT offers in this case. But maybe the range is needed for detection of small counts of photons ?
We may get a few of these to perform some testing.
Thanks.
What's your expected range of count rates? Doing this sort of thing with no photon budget leads only to tears.
Cheers
Phil Hobbs
Well, the whole idea is to not detect any photons :)
I will need to reference what our current PMT's floor is at normal operating conditions.
This means I have to dig out some old paper work that is most likely turning yellow and crumbling by now, to convert to readings over to meaningful figures.
Thanks.. Cul..
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