An accurate measurement of PMT TTS based on the photoelectron spectrum**Supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (11275196) and “Strategic Priority Program” of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA03010100)

Abstract

The water Cherenkov detector array (WCDA) for the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO) will employ more than 3600 hemisphere 8-inch photomultiplier tubes (PMTs). Good time performance of the PMT, especially the transit time spread (TTS), is required for the WCDA. In order to meet the demand of the WCDA experiment, an accurate measurement of PMT TTS based on the photoelectron spectrum is studied. The method is appropriate for multi-photoelectrons and makes it possible to measure the TTS of different photoelectrons simultaneously. The TTS of different photoelectrons for a Hamamatsu R5912 PMT is tested with a specially designed divider circuit. The relationship between TTS and number of photoelectrons is also presented in this paper.