Simultaneous subnanosecond timing information and 2D spatial information from imaging photomultiplier tubes

We have incorporated a resistive anode, microchannel-plate based photon-counting 2D optical imaging detector with standard time-correlated single photon counting circuitry. The result is a very powerful spectroscopic system which combines the very low dark count and parallel collection capabilities typical of this type of detector with simultaneous time resolution of the individual photon counts. The required timing signal can be generated with a very simple addition to the biasing network of the standard detector, and results in temporal resolution of 500-ps FWHM, equivalent to that typically obtainable with moderately fast single channel photomultiplier tubes.