Analysis of the performance of photon detection methods using silicon photomultiplier in the application with high throughput requirements

Abstract An analysis and comparison of the performance of photon detection methods using a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) in applications which require fast timings is presented. The front-end circuit enables measurement of the amplitude, charge, width of the pulse from the SiPM (time over threshold) and counting of events. The system was tested by generating light of different intensities where signals tend to pile-up. The signals generated by various numbers of photons are well separated on the single photon spectra. All methods have strong linearity parameters. The amplitude and charge methods are more accurate, have higher r-squared values, lower prediction intervals and higher sensitivity. On the other hand they require a more complicated readout system. The event’s counting and ToT methods have weaker parameters; however the advantage is simpler readout.