Development and testing of cost-effective, 6 cm x 6 cm MCP-based   photodetectors for fast timing applications
  Micro-channel plate (MCP)-based photodetectors are capable of picosecond level time resolution and sub-mm level position resolution, which makes them a perfect candidate for the next generation large area photodetectors. The large-area picosecond photodetector (LAPPD) collaboration is developing new techniques for making large-area photodetectors based on new MCP fabrication and functionalization methods. A small single tube processing system (SmSTPS) was constructed at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) for developing scalable, cost-effective, glass-body, 6 cm x 6 cm, picosecond photodetectors based on MCPs functionalized by Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD). Recently, a number of fully processed and hermitically sealed prototypes made of MCPs with 20 micron pores have been fabricated. This is a significant milestone for the LAPPD project. These prototypes were characterized with a pulsed laser test facility. Without optimization, the prototypes have shown excellent results: The time resolution is ~57 ps for single photoelectron mode and ~15 ps for multi-photoelectron mode; the best position resolution is < 0.8 mm for large pulses. In this paper, the tube processing system, the detector assembly, experimental setup, data analysis and the key performance will be presented. 
Jingbo Wang, Karen Byrum, Marcel Demarteau, Jeffrey Elam, Anil Mane,   Edward May, Robert Wagner, Dean Walters, Junqi Xie, L...
physics.ins-det hep-ex