Performance Studies of Hamamatsu R647-01 Photomultiplier

Characteristics of the Hamamatsu R647-01 13 mm-diameter photomultiplier have been measured. Some typical photomultiplier characteristics-such as gain, dark current, transit and rise times-are compared with data provided by the manufacturer. Other photomultiplier characteristics, generally not available from the manufacturer, such as the single photoelectron time spread and pulse response for the full photocathode illumination were measured and are discussed. In particular the optimization of voltage divider for photomultiplier was investigated for timing applications in positron emission tomography systems.