A
photomultiplier is a device that converts
into an electrical signal.
Kinds of photomultiplier include:
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Photomultiplier tube, a vacuum tube converting incident photons into an electric signal. Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs for short) are members of the class of , and more specifically vacuum , which are extremely sensitive detectors of light in the ultraviolet, visible light, and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum.
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Magnetic photomultiplier, developed by the Soviets in the 1930s.
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Electrostatic photomultiplier, a kind of photomultiplier tube demonstrated by Jan Rajchman of RCA Laboratories in Princeton, NJ in the late 1930s which became the standard for all future commercial photomultipliers. The first mass-produced photomultiplier, the Type 931, was of this design and is still commercially produced today.
[J. Rajchman and E.W. Pike, RCA Technical Report TR-362, "Electrostatic Focusing in Secondary Emission Multipliers," September 9, 1937.]
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Silicon photomultiplier, a solid-state device converting incident photons into an electric signal. Silicon photomultipliers, often called "SiPM" in the literature, are solid-state single-photon-sensitive devices based on Single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) implemented on common silicon substrate.
[ Détecteurs SiPM][ Silicon Photom ultiplier Technology at STMicroelectronics From SPAD to SiPM]
