An analogue multiplexer for testing multianode photomultipliers

A. LUCERO; A. ALMELA; F. SUAREZ; C. REYES; A. CANCIO; A. FUSTER; F. GALLO; M.R. HAMPEL; M. PLATINO; M. VIDELA; O. WAINBERG; D. YELOS; A. ETCHEGOYEN

Otro; Pierre Auger Internal Technical Note; 2015

Pierre Auger Observatory

Most particles detectors used in astroparticle physics have an optoelectronic device in order to sense the generated light and convert it to an electrical pulse. A widely used sensor is the photo-multiplier tube and, in particular, multi-anode tubes. They need to be fully characterized prior to its coupling to the detector system and since they have several outputs and they would either require the same number of data acquisition channels or a switching-multiplexer system. Even though every project has its own requirements, the test system in itself must be as flexible as possible. The multiplexer presented here can also be used to test silicon photo-multipliers or any kind of high-frequency signal. It is a scalable 64 to 4 channels analogue device designed for low crosstalk and low attenuation. Results of the usage of this multiplexer with a -3 dB bandwidth of 800 MHz are shown by testing 64-channel tubes for the AMIGA project.