2004•Review of Scientific InstrumentsRequires access
Counting photoelectrons in the response of a photomultiplier tube to single picosecond light pulses
Guido Zambra, Maria Bondani, Alessandro S. Spinelli, F. Paleari, Alessandra Andreoni
Open publisher page 62 citations
Abstract
We demonstrate the capability of a commercial photomultiplier to produce distinguishable anodic-pulse charge values when 1, 2, or more photoelectrons leave the cathode within a time shorter than the pulse-response duration. We propose a method for precise reconstruction of the photoelectron statistics from the measured pulse-height spectra and discuss applications to the characterization of quantum states in the continuous-variable regime.