Characterisation studies of silicon photomultipliers for a calorimeter for the ILC

Abstract

The analogue hadronic calorimeter for the International Linear Collider, developed by the CALICE Collaboration, uses novel silicon pixel-detectors (Silicon Photomultipliers) for the readout of small organic scintillator tiles. In order to find the devices best suited for this application, several test-setups have been developed which allow to measure and compare the properties of such sensors. In the work presented here, we focus on an experimental method to determine the Photon-Detection-Efficiency over a wide spectral range. In addition, two test-setups are discussed which allow to systematically study the overall device uniformity by illumination of small areas of the sensors, one using a pulsed light-source and the other a continuous-wave laser beam. First results of such uniformity studies for different sensor-models are also presented.