Solid State Photo Detectors

[Frank Sanns]

Does anybody have any experience with any solid state substitutes for a vacuum tube PMT? I am looking for something small and not crazy expensive but with the ability to detect single photons from a scintillator and have it work in small space with low voltage. I know photodiodes and some other devices work well but is there some emerging technology that would be a good fit?

Thanks.

Frank Sanns

[John Futter]

Frank
Not that I know of
you cannot get past the efficiency of the PMT to give gain almost noislessly.
Hamamatsu make a small square PMT about 30mm sq and about 20mm high. We use these in a portable x-ray backscatter arrangement.

[Wilfried Heil]

Indeed there are "emerging technologies", which tend to replace the PMTs.

You can use APD modules, if the 5 mm detector size is enough for you:
http://sales.hamamatsu.com/assets/pdf/p ... 007e05.pdf

This is also an interesting component - a silicon photomultiplier:
http://sales.hamamatsu.com/en/products/ ... s/mppc.php

[Frank Sanns]

Thanks.

I requested some pricing info on some of these items. In advance of the HEAS, I was going to try to build a gamma imager with an array of some small detectors. We shall see how that progresses.

Frank Sanns

[Wilfried Heil]

CZT detectors can be used in arrays. Some advantages are that they are thicker than Si diodes and have very low dark current. They're not outrageously expensive for the smaller sizes.
http://www.icproto.com/typeroom/assets/ ... 09_CZT.pdf

Good luck with your plans.