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=                          Photomultiplier                           =
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                            Introduction
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A photomultiplier is a device that converts incident photons into an
electrical signal.

Kinds of photomultiplier include:
* Photomultiplier tube, a vacuum tube converting incident photons into
an electric signal. Photomultiplier tubes (PMTs for short) are members
of the class of vacuum tubes, and more specifically vacuum phototubes
which are extremely sensitive detectors of light in the ultraviolet,
visible, and near-infrared ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum.
** Magnetic photomultiplier, developed by the Soviets in the 1930s.
** 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.
* 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.


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