A photon counting, microchannel plate (MCP) optical
imaging tube has been fabricated using a 2 × 2 array of Timepix application
specific integrated circuits (ASICs) as the readout anode. A Timepix ASIC is
a 256 × 256 pixellated CMOS readout chip with each pixel containing an
amplifier, discriminator and counter. The counter values, representing
either time of arrival, total count or time over threshold, can record the
position and time of arrival of the electron pulses from the MCP if the
charge collected on its input pads exceed the adjustable lower threshold
value. Below we present initial results of the tube's performance, the
quantum efficiency of the bi-alkali photocathode, uniformity of response,
spatial and temporal resolution, and dynamic range. Planned improvement to
the design based on the new Timepix3 chip will be discussed.
During the last decades, multi-pixel detectors have been developed capable of registering single photons. The newly developed Hybrid Photon Detector camera has a remarkable property that it has not only spatial but also temporal resolution. In this work, we use this device for the detection of non-classical light from spontaneous parametric down-conversion and use two-photon correlations for the absolute calibration of its quantum efficiency.References and links
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