Abstract
We report a detailed design, fabrication, and characterization of 6 × 6 cm 2 fast timing photodetectors based on next-generation microchannel plates (MCPs). The whole assembly is made of low-cost borosilicate glass materials and hermetically sealed with a bialkali photocathode in a vacuum. The flexible photodetector design provides the potential of modifying individual components as well as the entire configuration to fit for different applications. A series of prototype MCP-photodetectors were fabricated following a step-by-step process including functionalization of glass capillary array through atomic layer deposition, MCP baking and scrubbing, photocathode deposition, and hermetic thermo-compression sealing. The prototype MCP-photodetectors exhibit electron gains well beyond 10 7 level with good relative uniformity. An excellent rise time of 439 ps, timing distribution root-mean-square at a single photoelectron mode of 105 ps, a timing resolution of 20 ps, and magnetic field tolerance up to 1.3 T were achieved for a photodetector with 10 μm pore size MCPs, comparing to that of 536 ps, 205 ps, 63 ps, and 0.7 T for the one with 20 μm pore size MCPs.
Original language | English |
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Article number | 043109 |
Journal | Review of Scientific Instruments |
Volume | 90 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 1 2019 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors would like to thank Ronald Kmak (Designer at ANL), Dean Walters (Principal Mechanical Engineer at ANL), Mathew Virgo (Assistant Physicist at ANL), Huyue Zhao (Mechanical Engineer at ANL), and Frank Skrzecz (Mechanical Engineer at ANL), for their mechanical engineering support; Jeffrey Elam (Sr. Chemist at ANL) and Anil Mane (Principal Material Science Engineer at ANL) for providing ALD functionalization of MCPs used in this paper; Joseph Gregar and Kevin Moeller (Principal Scientific Glass Blower Specialists at ANL) for their work on the glass parts; Peter Winter (Physicist at ANL) for his arrangement of the Argonne magnetic facility usage; Jingbo Wang (UC Davis) for discussions and many people from the LAPPD collaboration for their advice and assistance. The authors would also like to thank SVT Associates, Inc. (SVTA) for help on Knudsen effusion cell design and Incom, Inc., for supplies of ALD coated MCPs. This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics under Contract No. DE-AC02-06CH11357. Part of the work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, SBIR and STTR Programs Office under Award No. DE-SC0018445.