Evaluation of some wide dynamic range readout systems for photoelectric integrating spectrometers

Five types of electronic circuits commonly used for readout of currents from photomultiplier tubes were evaluated. This evaluation was conducted to define the experimental limits of achieving the widest possible dynamic range of light detection and concentration measurements in spectrochemical analysis. The circuits evaluated included the photon-counting technique and four dc circuits. These circuits displayed a dynamic range from 3 to about 4.5 decades within a repeatability criterion of 1 percent, or better. The maximum dynamic range allowed by the photomultiplier tube in this application was estimated to be about 6 decades.