Abstract
Despite the rapid advances in solid state technologies such as the silicon photomultiplier (SiPM), microchannel plate (MCP) photomultipliers still offer a proven and practical technological solution for high channel count pixellated photon-counting systems with very high time resolution. We describe progress towards a 256 channel optical photon-counting system using CERN-developed NINO and HTDC ASICs, and designed primarily for time resolved spectroscopy in life science applications.Having previously built and demonstrated a 18mm diameter prototype tube with an 8×8 channel readout configuration and <43ps rms single photon timing resolution, we are currently developing a 40mm device with a 32×32 channel readout. Initially this will be populated with a 256 channel electronics system comprising four sets of modular 64 channel preamplifier/discriminator, and time-to-digital converter units, arranged in a compact three dimensional configuration.We describe the detector and electronics design and operation, and present performance measurements from the 256 channel development system. We discuss enhancements to the system including higher channel count and the use of application specific on-board signal processing capabilities.
Highlights
This work is being carried out within a project called ‘‘Information Rich Imaging of Cells’’ (IRPICS) and is funded through the BBSRC Technology Development Research Initiative scheme
The hardware goal of the project is to develop a high throughput multi-channel photomultiplier with picosecond event timing for high content imaging in life science applications using time resolved spectroscopy
IRPICS has built on the achievements of the HiContent project [1,2], an STFC funded proof-of-principle demonstration of a small pore microchannel plate photomultiplier with a discrete pixel readout
Summary
This work is being carried out within a project called ‘‘Information Rich Imaging of Cells’’ (IRPICS) and is funded through the BBSRC Technology Development Research Initiative scheme. In conventional single channel TCSPC, illumination intensity must be maintained sufficiently low to ensure that the probability of a second fluorescence photon occurring within the dead time of the detector is negligible; otherwise the preferential loss of late photons that this causes distorts the decay time calculation. This limitation is mitigated in multi-channel devices since the second photon may be detected in a parallel channel and not lost [3]. IRPICS, having up to 1024 channels is expected to allow an increase in illumination intensity of several orders of magnitude compared to conventional TCSPC operation
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