An Active Gain-control System for Avalanche Photo-Diodes under Moderate Temperature Variations

Abstract

Avalanche photodiodes (APDs) are promising light sensor for various fields of experimental physics. It has been argued, however, that variation of APD gain with temperature could be a serious problem preventing APDs from replacing traditional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs) in some applications. Here we develop an active gain-control system to keep the APD gain stable under moderate temperature variations. As a performance demonstration of the proposed system, we have tested the response of a scintillation photon detector consisting of a 5x5 mm^2 reverse-type APD optically coupled with a CsI(Tl) crystal. We show that the APD gain was successfully controlled under a temperature variation of DT = 20deg, within a time-cycle of 6000 sec. The best FWHM energy resolution of 6.1+-0.2 % was obtained for 662 keV gamma-rays, and the energy threshold was as low as 6.5 keV, by integrating data from +20deg - 0deg cycles. The corresponding values for -20deg - 0deg cycles were 6.9+-0.2 % and 5.2 keV, respectively. These results are comparable, or only slightly worse than that obtained at a fixed temperature. Our results suggest new potential uses for APDs in various space researches and nuclear physics. As examples, we briefly introduce the NeXT and Cute-1.7 satellite missions that will carry the APDs as scientific instruments for the first time.