A review of single-photon detectors used in particle identification systems for high-energy physics experiments is presented. Different detector technologies will be reviewed, including photomultiplier tubes, microchannel plate photomultiplier tubes, Geiger-mode avalanche photodiodes and hybrid photodetectors.
The current understanding of radiation tolerance of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) is reviewed. Methods to characterize irradiated SiPMs after their single photo-electron resolution is lost are discussed and ideas are presented on how to approach the development of radiation hard SiPMs.
Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPM) will be used extensively in the upgraded CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. SiPMs have already been implemented into the barrel and endcap hadron calorimeters as part of the Phase I upgrade, and hundreds of thousands of SiPMs will be used for two new Phase II subdetectors, the Barrel Timing Layer and the endcap high granularity hadronic calorimeter. We...
The LHCb experiment at CERN has been upgraded for the Run 3 operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A new concept of tracking detector based on Scintillating Fibres (SciFi) read out with multichannel silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) was installed during its upgrade. One of the main challenges that the SciFi tracker will face during its operation is the high radiation environment due to...
The LHCb experiment at CERN has been upgraded for the Run 3 operation of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). A new concept of tracking detector based on Scintillating Fibres (SciFi) read out with multichannel silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) was installed during its upgrade. One of the main challenges that the SciFi tracker will face during its operation is the high radiation environment due to...
The ALICE Collaboration is proposing a completely new apparatus, ALICE 3, for the LHC Run 5 and beyond. A key subsystem for high-energy charged particle identification will be a Ring-Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detector consisting of an aerogel radiator and a photodetector surface based on Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) arrays in a proximity-focusing configuration. A thin high-refractive index...
The dual-radiator (dRICH) detector of the ePIC experiment at the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) will make use of SiPM sensors for the detection of the emitted Cherenkov light. The photodetector will cover $\sim$ 3 m$^{2}$ with 3 $\times$ 3 mm$^{2}$ pixels, for a total of more than 300000 readout channels and will be the first application of SiPMs for single-photon detection in a HEP...
Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20-kiloton liquid scintillator detector currently under construction in Jiangmen, China. Situated 52.5 km from two nuclear power plants within a newly established 700-meter-deep underground laboratory, JUNO aims to determine the neutrino mass ordering by precisely measuring the energy spectrum of reactor neutrinos. Achieving this goal...
The Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is a 20-kiloton liquid scintillator detector, currently under construction in Jiangmen, China. JUNO will be equipped with 17,612 20-inch photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) and 25,600 3-inch PMTs, and it will undertake a wide range of physics programs, including the observation of reactor, atmospheric, solar, geo, and supernova neutrinos, as well...
Many neutrino detectors use photons as their primary event detection method, typically detecting numbers of photons and their arrival times. Photons also carry information about an event through their wavelength, polarization, and direction, but often little to none of this information is utilized. The "dichroicon," a Winston-style light cone comprised of dichroic filters, allows detectors to...
More than 300 satellites are being developed worldwide, some of which are used to promote the space sciences. Waseda University and Tokyo-Tech are developing a 50 kg-class satellite “GRAPHIUM,” scheduled for launch in FY2026. The satellite aims to expand MeV gamma-ray astronomy that has stagnated for over 30 years. The primary detector of the satellite is a box-type Compton camera (INSPIRE)...
The High Energy cosmic-Radiation Detection (HERD) facility, located on board the Chinese Space Station, is expected to make significant advancements in cosmic-ray observations, dark matter searches, and gamma-ray astronomy, thanks to its innovative design. The HERD geometry is based on a 3-dimensional imaging calorimeter, which is surrounded on five sides by a fiber tracker, a plastic...
Full waveform digitization is an obvious solution for many particle physics detectors: Nyquist sampling ensures no information is lost, and extraction of important features can be postponed to later offline analysis, or can even be done by a fast FPGA before storage to disk. For large-scale photon detectors used in neutrino physics, however, the dynamic ranges run from just single photons to...
Astrophysical sub-millisecond time-scale transient phenomena, such as fast radio burst and giant radio pulses from the Crab pulsar, have been observed in radio wavebands, although their origins are still unknown. To reveal them, a photon detector with high sensitivity and high time resolution is required. Recently, we have developed Imager of MPPC-based Optical photoN counter from Yamagata...
The applications of previously reported two-dimensional (2D) Cap Resistive Layer (CRL) Position Sensitive (PS) SiPM were limited due to their small 6.14×6.14 mm² active area and position distortions at corner due to interaction between adjacent strip metal electrodes. In this study, we developed a 4×4 array of 1D CRL PS SiPMs with total active area of 24.6×24.6 mm². By employing a cathodes and...
The advent of Silicon Photomultipliers (SiPMs) has significantly enhanced radiation detection instrumentation, gradually replacing Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs) in various applications. SiPMs have notably improved performance in timing-critical applications. However, their typical analog readouts face limitations, such as high power consumption, and challenges in signal integrity associated...
Modern Silicon Photomultiplier technologies have achieved remarkable performance in several fields, ranging from medical imaging to Big Physics experiments to industrial applications. On the other hand, there are still several challenges in the SiPM and SPAD technology development. Among them, we can consider further improving the timing performance for Time-of-Flight PET and High Energy...
Digital SiPMs combine Single Photon sensitive Avalanche Diodes (SPADs) and CMOS transistors on a single piece of silicon. The direct access to the large signal of an individual firing SPAD eliminates the need for analogue amplification and allows for disabling individual noisy cells, so that the overall dark count rate is greatly reduced. A readout scheme tailored to a particular application...
A number of high energy physics and cosmology experiments use or plan to use single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) or SPAD based silicon photomultipliers in harsh conditions, such as cryogenic temperatures and/or high radiation environments. In this contribution, studies of the operation of SPADs, front-end electronics, and micro-lens arrays at temperatures down to liquid nitrogen will be...
Fermilab Microelectronics department has a strong effort in a number of areas. Traditionally, we focused on addressing the next challenge for High Energy Physics, including operation in extreme environments including cryogenic and radiation, including developments for DUNE and LHC and dark matter searches. In the last few years, we have expanded our portfolio to use the expertise gained in...
Modern scintillator-based radiation detectors require silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) with photon detection efficiency > 40% at 420 nm, possibly extended to the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) region, SPTR < 100 ps, and DCR < 150 kcps/mm2. To enable single-photon time stamping, digital electronics and sensitive microcells need to be integrated in the same CMOS substrate, with a readout frame rate...
Abstract: We present the development of a fully reconfigurable, active-quenching, single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) array. It is fabricated by integrating a bare chip of Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) with a bare die of 4×4 SPAD array with three-dimensional stacked package. The active quenching is realized through the Tri-State Gates and Look-Up Tables (LUTs) of the FPGA. This...
We present a novel detector concept using dielectrically-coupled photo sensors.
Our goal is to combine digital sensors with both power over fibre (PoF) and signal over fibre (SoF) to enable readout within electric fields (e-fields) at cryogenic temperatures. Motivated by maximising sensitivity of large-volume time projection chambers (TPCs). Timing resolution is limited by the optical path...
Particle detection and identification in astroparticle physics heavily rely on light detection. From dark matter searches to neutrino physics, the study of photons produced in particle interactions is crucial to further our understanding of these very precise detectors and to identify the rare signals they are looking for. After providing an overview of the light detection techniques in...
Silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) has a low radioactivity, compact geometry, low operation voltage, and good photo-detection efficiency for vacuum ultraviolet light (VUV). Therefore it is expected to replace photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) for future dark matter experiments with liquid xenon (LXe) such as DARWIN/XLZD. However, SiPM has nearly two orders of magnitude higher dark count rate (DCR)...
Burst effect of Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) at cryogenic temperatures have been discovered few years ago looking at the dark count rate of SiPMs at liquid nitrogen temperatures. A burst consists in trains of consecutive avalanche events, characterized by a rate that is about 100 times that of the single-event uncorrelated dark counts, and results in an overall increase of the DCR. Burst...
GRAIN (GRanular Argon for Interaction of Neutrinos) is a Liquid Argon detector which is part of the Near Detector complex of DUNE experiment.
Most conventional noble liquid detectors employ scintillation light as either a timing signal for a TPC or as a calorimetric measurement, or both. Its relative amplitude and timing on multiple detectors can also be used to approximately locate an...
The LZ experiment, the largest liquid xenon time-projection chamber (TPC) built to date, continues to provide world leading sensitivity to WIMP dark matter candidates. In this talk, I will present the most recent results searching for WIMP dark matter from the combined 2022-2024 exposure. In addition to the increased exposure, the latest result showcases a number of refinements to LZ’s...
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) have gained significant traction as an alternative technology to the well-established photomultiplier tube (PMT), with numerous high-sensitivity experiments adopting them either complementarily or as a replacement for PMTs. SiPMs are an ideal match for low-background cryogenic applications, such as massive noble liquid experiments for dark matter direct...
LightPix is designed for amplification, triggering, digitization, and multiplexed readout of high-channel count silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) systems, particularly within cryogenic environments. It is based around the LightPix application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a custom low-power cryo-compatible ASIC which provides 64 input amplifiers, self-triggering TDCs with O(ns) precision,...
We will present an experimentally verified model for characterising the photodetection efficiency of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs). This work has been performed in the context of improving detector response for any SiPM based experiment requiring accurate photon simulations. The model is based on comprehensive measurements of photon detection efficiency for two UV sensitive Hamamatsu and...
Liquid Argon (LAr) Time Projection Chambers (TPC)s are promising detectors for dark matter search, due to their response uniformity, scalability to large target masses, and suitability for extremely low background operations. The Darkside-20k (DS-20k) experiment is a new dark matter detector under construction at INFN LNGS that aims to push the sensitivity for Weakly Interacting Massive...
The MEG II experiment searches for new physics like SUSY-GUT/SUSY-seesaw through the lepton flavor violating mu+ -> e+ gamma decay with ten times better sensitivity than the MEG experiment. The MEG experiment published the result of B(mu+ -> e+ gamma)<4.2x10-13 at 90% CL. in 2016, which was thirty times better result than the previous limit. While the MEG experiment utilized 846 2inch PMTs to...
nEXO is a next-generation 5-tonne liquid xenon (LXe) time projection chamber that will search for the neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) of Xe-136, which is a lepton number violating process that can occur if neutrinos are massive Majorana fermions. The experiment has a projected half-life sensitivity of 1.35 x 10^28 years over 10 years of livetime, which sets a design goal of 0.8% energy...
Hamamatsu Photonics K. K., a major manufacturer of the Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC), which is also known as Silicon-photomultiplier (SiPM), has developed technologies that are capable of detecting photons across a wide range of wavelengths. These solutions are capable of serving a multitude of applications such as calorimetry, TOF measurements, RICH/DIRC, etc. thanks to novel fabrication...
Rayquant Technology Co., Ltd. is a high-tech enterprise specializing in single-photon detection and ultra-low-light imaging technology. The company is dedicated to delivering high-performance photon detection and single-photon imaging chips, modules, and systems, alongside comprehensive technical services and solutions for low-light detection applications. Through continuous technological...
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are widely used in photon counting experiments today because of their high photon detection efficiency, compactness, small dead area, and low bias voltage. However, SiPMs tend to have higher dark count rate than conventional photomultiplier tubes, and their temperature dependence is known to be non-negligible. Therefore, it is essential to characterize and...
We are developing a Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detector for the MARQ spectrometer at J-PARC’s Hadron Hall, specifically designed for particle identification in the momentum range of 2-18 GeV/c. The detector, with dimensions of 4x6x2 m³, employs a dual-radiator configuration, combining Aerogel (n=1.04) and C3F8O gas (n=1.00137), to discriminate among scattered particles such as pions, kaons,...
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are being used by many rare-event search experiments to read out scintillation light from liquid noble detectors due to their single-photon resolution. Knowledge of the photon detection efficiency (PDE) of these SiPMs is a critical input for modeling these detectors' light responses and optimizing their sensitivities for new physics; however, the PDEs of SiPMs...
Understanding the optical properties of various components in water Cherenkov neutrino experiments is essential for accurate detector characterization, which is critical for precise measurements. Of particular importance is the characterization of surface reflectivity within the Cherenkov volume. I will present a methodology for surface reflectivity characterization using a goniometer setup,...
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) are semiconductor photodetectors increasingly used in high-energy physics experiments. In the planned upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider beauty (LHCb) experiment, they are considered to be used to detect Cherenkov photons in the Ring Imaging Cherenkov (RICH) detectors. In this application, the biggest drawback of current SiPMs is their susceptibility to...
Super-Kamiokande (SK) is 50kT water Cherenkov neutrino detector composed of approximately 11,000 20” Photomultiplier Tubes (PMTs). Magnetic fields are understood to affect photoelectron trajectories through the bulb of large-sized PMTs, and consequently can affect their performance. As SK moves towards a systematically limited future, it is becoming increasingly important to understand the...
The Hyper-Kamiokande (HK) is a next-generation neutrino experiment built in Japan and scheduled to begin operation in 2027. A new PMT has been developed for the HK water Cherenkov detector with modifications in detection efficiency, timing resolution, and pressure tolerance by a factor of two with respect to those used in the Super-Kamiokande detector. The HK detector will be instrumented with...
Noble element Time Projection Chambers are cutting edge detectors in high energy physics, their use spanning across fields from neutrino to dark matter to neutrino-less double-beta decay experiments. Whereas the charge collection is a well-understood process, improving the light collection is key to enhance detection sensitivity. Noble elements (Xenon and Argon) scintillate in the deep VUV...
Optical observations with high time-resolution should be a key to understand the origin of sub-millisecond time-scale astronomical phenomena such as giant radio pulses from the Crab Pulsar. We have developed a high-speed imaging system, Imager of MPPC-based Optical photoN counter from Yamagata (IMONY), using a customized Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) as a sensor. This sensor is designed to...
Photon detection efficiency (PDE) is a critical parameter in semiconductor and vacuum photodetectors used in particle and astroparticle physics experiments. Enhancing PDE in the relevant wavelength range and suppressing background photons are essential for optimizing experimental performance. Reflectance and transmittance at the photodetector surface, typically estimated using Fresnel's law,...
Recently, $\alpha$-ray emitting radionuclides, which can treat cancer locally and effectively, have been attracting attention in the in the field of nuclear medicine. Among these, At-211, which is produced in cyclotrons in Japan, is particularly promising. Therefore, it is important to visualize the distribution of At-211 in vivo during targeted radioisotope therapy.
Currently, human SPECT...
Mid-wave infrared (MWIR) photodetectors are obtaining increased market demand in various application fields such as sensing, spectroscopy, medical diagnostics, and communication systems. The application scope is also being expanded due to the integration ability for these devices into the silicon platforms. Although the MWIR avalanche photodiodes (APDs) have been developed and reported by...
Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) are crucial in photon-counting experiments due to their high detection efficiency and low noise levels. A key application is in imaging atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes (IACTs), which observe Cherenkov light from air showers triggered by high-energy gamma and cosmic rays. They are also employed in the Large-Sized Telescopes (LSTs) and the Medium-Sized Telescopes of...
Multi-anode Microchannel Plate (MCP) detectors provide unique performance, especially with regards to sub 30ps timing resolution, signal photon sensitivity, and modular design. Developments for HEP applications such as the TORCH project, require increasing the photon rate capability and higher spatial granularity of existing designs.
These demands are being tackled in two ways, firstly by...
Photosensitive gaseous detectors with a simple photoelectron multiplication mechanism as resistive plate chamber are expected to offer both large photocoverage and excellent time resolution while keeping costs low. We have developed a gaseous photomultiplier (GasPM) and demonstrated that a single-photon time resolution is $25 \pm 0.2$ ps at the gain of 3.3 $\times 10^{6}$ with a $\rm{LaB_{6}}$...
For hundreds of years we have known that visible light can pass through human tissues, while for about fifty years we have also known that this offers incredible diagnostic and treatment opportunities. Among several applications, here we focus in particular on those requiring innovative photon detectors to push the actual barriers of laser based diagnostic tools, and in particular on time...
X-ray computed tomography (CT) based on GOS scintillator coupled with photodiode is widely used in medical imaging. However, high image quality in conventional CT requires a high radiation dose, which leads to an inability to acquire energy information of X-rays. Therefore, as the next generation CT, the photon-counting CT (PCCT) has been proposed, which provides multi-energy and...
In the field of nuclear medicine, there has been a growing demand for devices that can image gamma rays of several hundred keV. For example, radioactive gold nanoparticles have been proposed as ideal drug carriers that can be traced using their 412-keV gamma rays. However, devices offering high spatial resolution for imaging using such high-energy gamma rays have not yet been developed....
In this talk, we discuss harnessing the unique properties of amorphous selenium (a-Se) and its alloy. Our exploration into Te alloying has revealed critical insights into defect states and their impact on electronic properties. By integrating density functional theory (DFT) simulations with experimental validation, we discovered that while Te incorporation reduces the band gap and mobility,...
Silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) have had a transformational impact on many important experiments in high-energy and astrophysics. However, the SiPM is intrinsically limited in its photoresponse below ~300 nm, a critical wavelength range for liquid noble scintillation detectors. An alternative to silicon for the fabrication of UV avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are the wide-bandgap III-N...
Photon detectors featuring single-photon sensitivity play a crucial role in various scientific domains, including high-energy physics, astronomy, and quantum optics. Fast response time, high quantum efficiency, and minimal dark counts are the characteristics that render them ideal candidates for detecting individual photons with exceptional signal-to-noise ratios, at frequencies in the range...
Single-crystal diamonds are used in particle detection via charge collection mode, benefiting from their high charge mobility and long carrier lifetime. However, their production is challenging and size-limited. Polycrystalline diamond, which can be produced more easily and in larger sizes through Chemical Vapor Deposition, offer a viable alternative as scintillators for charged particle...
Due to its superior temporal resolution, low dark noise and stability in magnetic fields, the microchannel plate photomultiplier tube (MCP-PMT) is an essential component of particle identification detectors such as LHCb, Belle II and STCF, as well as fast neutron or X-ray detectors in nuclear inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. However, future work is needed to develop the MCP-PMT...
