Characterization of a high efficiency silicon photomultiplier for millisecond to sub-microsecond astrophysical transient searches

We characterized the S14160-3050HS Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC), a high efficiency, single channel silicon photomultiplier manufactured by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. All measurements were performed at a room temperature of (23.0 ± 0.3)°C. We obtained an I-V curve and used relative derivatives to find a breakdown voltage of 38.88 V. At a 3 V over voltage, we find a dark count rate of 1.08 MHz, crosstalk probability of 21 %, photon detection efficiency of 55 % at 450 nm, and saturation at 1.0x1011 photons per second. The S14160- 3050HS MPPC is a candidate detector for the Ultra-Fast Astronomy (UFA) telescope which will characterize the optical (320 nm - 650 nm) sky in the millisecond to sub-microsecond timescales using two photon counting arrays operated in coincidence on the 0.7 meter Nazarbayev University Transient Telescope at the Assy-Turgen Astrophysical Observatory (NUTTelA-TAO) located near Almaty, Kazakhstan. We discuss advantages and disadvantages of using the S14160-3050HS MPPC for the UFA telescope and future ground-based telescopes in sub-second time domain astrophysics.

[1]  Dan Werthimer,et al.  Panoramic optical and near-infrared SETI instrument: overall specifications and science program , 2018, Astronomical Telescopes + Instrumentation.

[2]  M. Casolino,et al.  Mini-EUSO: A high resolution detector for the study of terrestrial and cosmic UV emission from the International Space Station , 2017, Advances in Space Research.

[3]  Albert Wai Kit Lau,et al.  Program objectives and specifications for the Ultra-Fast Astronomy observatory , 2019, Applied Optics and Photonics China.

[4]  Albert Wai Kit Lau,et al.  On-sky silicon photomultiplier detector performance measurements for millisecond to sub-microsecond optical source variability studies , 2020 .

[5]  George F. Smoot,et al.  Characterization of a silicon photomultiplier for the Ultra-Fast Astronomy telescope , 2019, Optical Engineering + Applications.

[6]  L. Burderi,et al.  Optical pulsations from a transitional millisecond pulsar , 2017, 1709.01946.

[7]  T. Nakamori,et al.  Development of an optical photon-counting imager with a monolithic Geiger Avalanche Photodiode array , 2020, 2010.11907.

[8]  C. Straubmeier,et al.  OPTIMA: A Photon Counting High-Speed Photometer , 2001 .

[9]  Shelley A. Wright,et al.  Detector characterization of a near-infrared discrete avalanche photodiode 5×5 array for astrophysical observations , 2019, Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[10]  G. Naletto,et al.  Precise optical timing of PSR J1023+0038, the first millisecond pulsar detected with Aqueye+ in Asiago , 2019, Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters.