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Category Archives: Photomultipliers

A Custom Base for using the EMI/Thorn 9816B Photomultiplier Tube with the Products for Research Model TE-182 Thermoelectrically-Cooled PMT Housing for Ultra-Low Light Level Experiments

Posted on May 27, 2021 by David Prutchi Posted in Photomultipliers, PMT/Scintillation Processor

For a detailed writeup in pdf format please CLICK HERE

I’ve been planning some experiments with single-photon and ultra-low light levels. For these experiments I want the collection area to be large and for the detector to have very broad spectral response, so my preference is to use a photomultiplier tube (PMT) instead of a “silicon photomultiplier” avalanche single-photon detector.

I found a brand new EMI 9816B PMT on eBay® which meets my requirements. The 9816B is a 51 mm (2”) diameter end-window photomultiplier, with an S20 infrared-sensitive photocathode, and 14 BeCu dynodes of linear focused design. This tube features a very high gain of 25×106 A/lm under nominal conditions (2,200V) with a quantum efficiency of 21% at the peak response wavelength.

Integration time, and ultimately resolution and sensitivity for detecting single-photons or ultra-weak light levels are dependent on the noise floor (dark counts) which is a function of temperature. Cooling the PMT dramatically reduces its dark current and counts.

I bought a surplus thermoelectrically-cooled housing by Products for Research (Model TE-182) which is made for 2” end-window PMTs. I could not find a surplus base for the EMI 9816B 14-dynode PMT, so I decided to buy a surplus base for a different tube and modify it for the 9816B.

Products for Research TE-182 Thermoelectrically-Cooled Housing for 2″ PMTs

Clearing the inside of the base was a very messy affair. This is because the dynode voltage divider chain is partially potted in silicone, and the rest of the base is filled with expanding thermal-isolation foam. Part of the base is made of plastic, so the use of harsh chemical solvents or heat to remove the silicone rubber and expanding foam were not possible. I thus had to use a scalpel and dental picks to remove all this insulation and be able to disassemble the tube socket.

I built a new divider on a piece of phenolic breadboard . The base is wired for high voltage (-2,300V) applied to the cathode (through a 33kΩ resistor). The dynode_1-to-dynode_14 divider is built with 330kΩ resistors. As suggested by EMI, the cathode-to-focus (and dynode_1) is set at a fixed 300V difference using two 150V Zener diodes in series.

Results from a characterization run are shown in the following table. The room-temperature dark current agrees with the specified value. A very dramatic drop in dark current and dark count rate can be observed when the PMT is cooled.

For a detailed writeup in pdf format please CLICK HERE

$25 Philips Medical Systems PMTs from Sphere Research

Posted on February 26, 2014 by David Prutchi Posted in Photomultipliers

Low-Cost Scintillation Probe Based on a Surplus XP3312 PMT for Ludlum Ratemeters www.diyPhysics.com prutchiSphere Research is clearing out all the Philips PMT assemblies they have in stock to empty their expensive off-site rental storage space. While stock is available, you can order any PMT shown as a Philips Medical Systems assembly at the beginning of this page for only $25 +shipping:

http://www.sphere.bc.ca/test/photo-tubes.html

Simply identify the deal as coming from DIY Physics when ordering (Note from diyPhysics.com: nothing in it for us except passing along some great info…).

All these tubes will be cleared out shortly so they can close down their over-priced off-site rental storage space. The offer is limited to stock on hand at the time of order. Sphere Research is happy to consolidate orders and help you minimize shipping costs wherever possible.  They can take Visa, MasterCard and PayPal for orders. These are very high performance tubes and hard to find, but they are very awkward for them to store in the big factory boxes, so they have to go.

Using Surplus Photonis XP2422/SN PMTs in Scintillation Probes

Posted on April 8, 2013 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 2 - Light as Particles, Chapter 5 - Wave-Particle Duality, Ionizing Radiation Detection, MCA/PHA, Photomultipliers, Radio-Isotope Identification, Scintillation Detector

XP2422/SN PMT Photomultiplier David Prutchi PhD

We prepared a short note on how to build a dynode voltage divider network for inexpensive surplus XP2422/SN photomultiplier tubes.  The XP2422/SN PMT is especially suited for gamma-ray spectral analysis when coupled to a NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal because of its high pulse-height resolution (PHR).  The XP2422/SN is available from Sphere Research in Canada.

Continue reading→

Construction of a d.i.y. Thermoelectrically-Cooled Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) Housing

Posted on March 31, 2013 by David Prutchi Posted in Photomultipliers

diy thermoelectrically cooled PMT housing David Prutchi PhD www.diyPhysics.com

The photomultiplier tubes (PMT) is the workhorse detector in particle physics and many other fields that require detection of light at extremely low levels.  However, the long-wavelength response of PMTs is not only low because of low quantum efficiency, but also because thermionic emission at room temperature causes swamps low-level signals with noise.

Reducing dark counts is especially important in photon-counting applications, especially when attempting to detect photons in the near-infrared. For example, the dark count of many PMTs rated for a wavelength range from 400 to 1200 nm, is in the hundred of thousands of counts when not cooled—making it virtually useless for detecting almost anything but the strongest signal. When cooled to -20 °C, the dark count is reduced to just a few tens counts. As such, in general, the use of PMTs that detect above 600 nm almost mandate a cooled housing.

We constructed a thermoelectrically-cooled housing to experiment with cooling a standard 2” face-on PMT. Although appropriate PMT noise reduction was achieved (one order of magnitude), the thermal efficiency of the do-it-yourself housing design was low, so lessons learned from this build will be used in a second-generation cooled housing.

Continue reading→

diy Scintillation Probe for Ludlum Ratemeters Using Surplus XP3312/SQ PMT

Posted on March 22, 2013 by David Prutchi Posted in CDV700 Pro Geiger-Müller Counter, Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Ionizing Radiation Detection, Photomultipliers, Scintillation Detector

 

Low-Cost Scintillation Probe Based on a Surplus XP3312 PMT for Ludlum Ratemeters www.diyPhysics.com prutchi

Ludlum general-purpose ratemeters are professional-grade instruments that are available on the secondary market at affordable prices.  They are compatible with a wide variety of probes, making them a great choice for educators, surveyors, and advanced amateur users.  However, probes for Ludlum ratemeters are often as expensive as the meter instrument itself, making it worthwhile to build comparable versions from surplus components.

Continue reading→

Using the $79 SainSmart DSO201 Pocket Oscilloscope and GammaGrapher with the PMT/Scintillation Probe

Posted on September 21, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 2 - Light as Particles, Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Chapter 5 - Wave-Particle Duality, Compton Scattering, MCA/PHA, Photomultipliers, PMT/Scintillation Processor, Scintillation Detector, Single-Photon Experiments

Connects directly to PMT probe shown in the book’s Figure 30 with no need for PMT amplifier!

 

Freeware Gamma Grapher MCA with diy PMT Scintillation Probe by David and Shanni Prutchi diyPhysics.com

The nice guys at the Yahoo GammaSpectrometry Group developed multichannel analyzer software for the $79 SainSmart DSO201 Pocket-Sized Digital Oscilloscope.  The upload of the MCA software to the oscilloscope is really easy (via USB), and it allows the PMT probe shown in the book’s Figure 30 to be connected directly to the oscilloscope’s input with no need for a PMT amplifier!

Continue reading→

Connecting to Surplus Scionix Miniature Scintillation Probes

Posted on February 20, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Chapter 5 - Wave-Particle Duality, Ionizing Radiation Detection, Photomultipliers, Radio-Isotope Identification, Scintillation Detector

Scionix miniature photomultiplier scintillation probe David Prutchi PhD www.diyPhysics.com

Lemo connector on Scionix miniature photomultiplier scintillation probe David Prutchi PhD www.diyPhysics.com

Scionix in The Netherlands has taken advantage of the recent development of miniature mesh-type dynode photomultiplier tubes to construct small-diameter scintillation probes.  Scionix’s miniature probes incorporate one of those PMTs, a NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal, and a built-in dynode voltage divider.  Connection to the probe is made through a miniature high-voltage locking coaxial connector.  Finding a mating connector is the main problem faced by enthusiasts who find these probes in the surplus market. Continue reading→

Simple d.i.y. Bias-T for Scintillation Probes with Single Connector

Posted on February 20, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Chapter 4 - The Priciple of Quantum Physics, MCA/PHA, Photomultipliers, PMT/Scintillation Processor, Radio-Isotope Identification

diy Signal/High-Voltage Splitter for Scintillation Probe with Single Connector David Prutchi www.diyphysics.comMany surplus scintillation probes have a single connector through which the PMT is fed with high voltage and the anode signal is output.  However, this may require an external “Bias-T” (a high voltage / signal splitter) to connect the probe to a high-voltage power supply that is separate from the PMT amplifier/processor. Continue reading→

Home-Built Radiac (Radiation Detector and Meter) for a Surplus DT-590A/PDR-56F Scintillation Probe

Posted on February 2, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Ionizing Radiation Detection, Photomultipliers, Radio-Isotope Identification, Scintillation Detector

Home-Made PDR-56F Radiac for a surplus DT-590A/PDR-56F Plutonium Contamination Probe

Military DT-590A/PDR-56 “x-ray” probes are widely available in the surplus market.  They were meant to be used with the military Radiac Set AN/PDR-56, which is a portable scintillation-type instrument used for detection of plutonium-239 contamination. In addition to emitting 5.1 MeV alpha particles, Plutonium-239 also emits gamma rays in the energy range of 14 to 21 keV. Because these gamma rays are more penetrating than the alpha particles, they travel further in matter and air and can be detected at longer distances from the ground. The probe uses a CaF2(Eu) scintillator/photomultiplier combination to detect these 14-21 keV gammas from Pu-239. The discriminator inside the probe is factory-tuned to detect only pulses from the Pu-239 gamma rays. Hopefully you don’t have plutonium contamination in your basement, so you can set the discriminator window wide open to make the probe sensitive to a much wider range of gamma energies. In addition, you can replace the CaF2(Eu) crystal by a NaI(Tl) scintillation crystal assembly. This will turn the instrument into a general-purpose gamma radiation detector that will outperform virtually any handheld Geiger counter in the detection of 100keV to 1.3MeV photons.

PDR56 Circuit Continue reading→

Prototyping PCB for d.i.y. Photomultiplier (PMT) Amplifier/Processor

Posted on January 31, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 2 - Light as Particles, Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Chapter 7 - Schrödinger's Wave Equation, Compton Scattering, Ionizing Radiation Detection, Photomultipliers, PMT/Scintillation Processor, Scintillation Detector, Single-Photon Experiments

Printed circuit board for diy PMT amplifier, processor, discriminator and scintillator detector

We built the bulk of our PMT amplifier/processor/discriminator on a Universal PDIP Operational Amplifier Evaluation Module by Texas Instruments (model OPAMPEVM-PDIP).  Click on the picture above for a full-size version of the picture.

The diagram in the following pdf file shows the connection layout for the circuit shown in the book’s Figure 34: PMT Processor PCB  Continue reading→

diy PMT Pulse Processor Suitable For Use With “Pulse Recorder and Analyser (PRA)” MCA

Posted on January 20, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 2 - Light as Particles, Chapter 5 - Wave-Particle Duality, Compton Scattering, Ionizing Radiation Detection, MCA/PHA, Photomultipliers, PMT/Scintillation Processor, Scintillation Detector, Single-Photon Experiments 2 Comments

diy Photomultiplier Processor

Figure 34 in the book shows the schematic diagram for the photomultiplier tube (PMT) signal processing circuit that amplifies the narrow pulses detected by the PMT probe.  The discriminator stage removes small pulses produced by thermal noise in the tube.  A pulse stretcher outputs pulses that can be heard on a speaker.  In addition, the analog output is suitable for use with a sound-card-based multichannel pulse-height analyzer (MCA). Continue reading→

diy Low-Cost, Regulated, Variable, Low-Ripple High-Voltage (2kV) Photomultiplier Tube Power Supply

Posted on January 20, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 2 - Light as Particles, Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Chapter 5 - Wave-Particle Duality, Compton Scattering, High-Voltage Power Supply, Ionizing Radiation Detection, MCA/PHA, Photomultipliers, Scintillation Detector, Single-Photon Experiments

diy Low-cost, regulated, variable-output photomultiplier power supply

The book’s Figure 32 shows the schematic diagram for a low-cost, variable-voltage PMT power supply based on a BXA-12579 inverter module that is originally designed as a power supply for cold-cathode fluorescent lamps.  This under-$20 module produces 1,500VAC at around 30kHz from a 12VDC input.

We are posting this picture to help you build your own power supply.  It shows the BXA-12579 that has been modified as described in the book.   The op-amp to the right of the CCFL module is used to control the voltage supplied to the module.  The high-voltage AC output of the inverter is rectified and doubled and filtered by the diodes and capacitors at the left of the CCFL module. Continue reading→

RCA 6655A PMT Data Sheet

Posted on January 14, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 2 - Light as Particles, Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Chapter 5 - Wave-Particle Duality, Chapter 7 - Schrödinger's Wave Equation, Compton Scattering, Ionizing Radiation Detection, Photomultipliers, Scintillation Detector

RCA 6655A photomultiplier tube

This is the datasheet for the RCA 6655A PMT used in the probe shown in the book’s Figure 30: RCA_6655A_Datasheet

This is the datasheet for Hamamatsu’s replacement of the RCA 6655A PMT: Hamamatsu replacement for RCA 6655A R2154-02

Schematic diagrams for the probe are in Figure 29.

Assembly View of diy Variable-Output, High-Performance PMT High-Voltage Power Supply

Posted on January 14, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 2 - Light as Particles, Chapter 3 - Atoms and Radioactvity, Chapter 5 - Wave-Particle Duality, Chapter 7 - Schrödinger's Wave Equation, Compton Scattering, High-Voltage Power Supply, Ionizing Radiation Detection, MCA/PHA, Photomultipliers, Single-Photon Experiments

Variable-output, low-ripple, high-stability, high-voltage power supply described in pages 38-40 of "Exploring Quantum Physics Through Hands-On Projects."

We are posting this picture to help you construct the variable-output, low-ripple, high-stability, high-voltage power supply described in pages 38-40 of “Exploring Quantum Physics Through Hands-On Projects.”  The schematic diagrams for this power supply are in the book’s Figure 31.  Output voltage (up to 2 kV) and current (up to 1 mA) are monitored via two LCD panel meters. Continue reading→

Our New Photomultiplier :)

Posted on January 5, 2012 by David Prutchi Posted in Chapter 2 - Light as Particles, Photomultipliers, Physics Humor

A very funny cartoon by Prof. Dr. Claus Grupen of Siegen University:

Funny physics photomultiplier cartoon by Prof. Claus Grupen

 

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