A study of photomultiplier tube characteristics and development of a remotely controlled photomultiplier gain control circuit for use in gamma-ray scintillation detectors in P.E.T.

Photomultiplier tubes (P.M.T.s) have been an invaluable tool thus far for gamma-ray scintillation detectors due to their high gain and low noise characteristics (as compared to their silicon counterparts). The study presented here covers the affects of various gain control methods on the most important characteristics of P.M.T.s for application in positron emission tomography, namely gain, pulse height resolution, time shift, and time resolution. The tubes studied were the Burle C83062E, and the Hamamatsu R2497 P.M.T.s. The findings here have significance not only in P.E.T., but also in high-energy physics experiments, or any other P.M.T. intensive application.