Description
Detection of photon is a base of many particle/radiation detectors. The development of novel photodetector opens up a new realm of application, and possibly leads to new discoveries.
In the past few years, rapid progress was seen in the development of multi-pixel avalanche photodiodes (APDs) operated in the Geiger mode (commonly known as "silicon PM" devices, and have many different names depending on manufacturer). They consists of many (100 to >1000) small APD in a typical area of order 1 mm2. Each APD micropixel independently works as a photodetector operating in the Geiger mode, realizing large gain while keeping photon counting capability.
The Geiger-mode APDs have many advantages as photon detector, such as high gain with low voltage and low power consumption, large photon detection efficiency, and immunity to magnetic fields and are expected to replace photomultiplier tubes in some of applications.
In this lecture, I will start from explaining the basic operation principle of the multi-pixel Geiger mode APD. Then, I will introduce performance of currently available device, such as gain, dark noise rate, photodetection efficiency, and interpixel cross-talk, etc., with some emphasis on the relevance to the real application. The method to evaluate those key parameters will be also explained. Also discussed will be possibility of improvements of device performance, and applications to the high-energy physics, medicine, astro-particle physics and nuclear science instruments.
