Recent progress of some fast high-gain photon detectors using photoemission and secondary emission processes is reviewed and summarized. Specifically, performance characteristics are presented, of the new Amperex XP 2020, RCA 8854, and Hamamatsu R 647-01 conventionally design photomultipliers. Also, characteristics are presented of the ITT F 4129 and Hamamatsu R 1564U extended lifetime microchannel plate photomultipliers as well as certain special made photomultipliers intended for application in positron emission tomography, high energy physics and plasma diagnostic experimental systems. Finally, microchannel plates as photon detectors for ultra violet and x-ray wavelengths are discussed.
IntroductionFast high-gain standard and microchannel plate photomultipliers, are among the fastest and most sensitive devices for detecting the incidence of photons on a target surface. These devices have gained wide acceptane in research instrumentation, particularly in radiation detection (1), atomic and molecular subnanosecond flourescence decay studies, (2), optical ranging experiments (3), optical communication systems (4), and plasma diagnostics (5). The detection of signals in practical systems in these areas, requires photon detectors with high quantum efficiency, high gain, fast time response and high data-rate capabilities. They should also have good output pulseheight and time resolution. In many cases large sensitive areas are required. Also, position-sensitive detection or imaging of incident radiation patterns is sometimes necessary. In practically all these applications a minimum amount of noise or spurious signal should be present in the detector output.
