Afterpulsing in Photomultipliers Detecting Lidar Signals in the Current Mode

摘要

The time profile and intensity of the signal-induced noise emerging in a photomultiplier tube (PMT) upon high-power pulsed illumination of the PMT photocathode are studied. Detection of weak light signals in the presence of such noise is analyzed. It is demonstrated that, under these conditions, a PMT cannot be regarded as a linear system, since its sensitivity to the desired light signal varies in a complicated manner over a period of hundreds of nanoseconds after the illumination.