Performance of the cost-effective Planacon ® MCP-PMTs in strong magnetic fields

Abstract We present the behavior of the cost-effective Planacon MCP-PMTs with 25 μ m pore diameter in the presence of axial magnetic fields up to 0.5 T. Having a batch of 62 devices of the same type, two MCP-PMTs were selected and their gain variation measured in different magnetic fields. These two otherwise identical devices satisfied the selection criteria by requiring the lowest (1.15 kV) and one of the highest (1.4 kV) bias voltage values to achieve a given gain. Both MCP-PMTs have a nearly identical tolerance of the strong magnetic field despite the significant difference in the bias voltage. This clarifies the mechanism of the B-field influence on the MCP-PMT gain, emphasizing the importance of the intrinsic parameters of the MCP emissive coating rather than external parameters, such as the total bias voltage. By evaluating the dependence of both gain and timing parameters on the magnetic field strength, we confirm the operability of such MCP-PMTs in strong magnetic fields in spite of the relatively large pore diameter and low bias voltage required for a given gain.