Würzburg 2018 – scientific programme

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T: Fachverband Teilchenphysik

T 69: Experimentelle Methoden der Astroteilchenphysik III

T 69.10: Talk

Wednesday, March 21, 2018, 18:45–19:00, Z6 - SR 2.013

Extending the Linear Dynamic Range of Silicon Photomultipliers — •Julian Kemp, Thomas Bretz, Thomas Hebbeker, Lukas Middendorf, Christine Peters, and Johannes Schumacher — III. Physikalisches Institut A, RWTH Aachen

Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are replacing conventional photomultiplier tubes in many applications. They have similar or higher photon detection efficiencies, are very robust and do not suffer from aging. SiPMs are cell structured devices consisting of some hundred up to some ten thousand avalanche photodiodes operated in Geiger mode (G-APDs). When detecting a single photon, a cell discharges and produces a well defined output pulse. While recharging, the cell's gain and photon detection efficiency are reduced. Thus, for long lasting bright light pulses, one cell can be hit multiple times, each hit producing a reduced response. The SiPM response to large light fluxes is therefore non-linear and also depends on the temporal distribution of the incident photons. As expected from semiconductor devices, SiPMs are manufactured with great precision. Thus, the variation in the response of different cells and also between different SiPMs of the same type is small. This allows for a precise simulation of the SiPM behavior also for bright incident photon pulses. Making use of this high precision, an algorithm has been developed to recover signals in the highly non-linear regime of the SiPM. It allows to significantly increase the usable dynamic range of SiPMs. The working principle of the algorithm will be presented as well as first measurements to prove its usability.