Single photon time resolution of photodetectors at high rate: Hamamatsu R13742 MaPMT and R10754 MCP-PMT

This paper reports on the time resolution of two photodetectors operated as single photon counters at high rate: a Hamamatsu R13742-103-M64 “conventional” (based on metal dynodes) multi-anode photomultiplier tube (MaPMT) and a Hamamatsu R10754-07-M16 microchannel plate photomultiplier tube (MCP-PMT). The MCP-PMT shows a time resolution (transit time spread, or jitter) of ∼70 ps FWHM (∼30 ps RMS) at low photon rates, but saturates above ∼100 kHz/mm2. The MaPMT can handle photon counting rates up to the highest tested, 10 MHz/mm2. Its time resolution is ∼250 ps FWHM (∼110 ps RMS) when only the pixel center is illuminated, but pixel edge effects degrade the resolution to ∼400 ps FWHM (∼170 ps RMS) when the entire pixel area is illuminated.