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AssigneeStratec Electronik GmbH
InventorsHermann Leistner, Jörg Eppler, Rüdiger Retzlaff
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The invention relates to a method and a system for photodetection in which measurement signals during photon-counting operation and current operation can be tapped off in parallel at a photomultiplier through two channels, one of which is a photon-counting (pulse-counting) channel and the other an analog signal transfer channel. The signals are stored continuously and processed in a microprocessor. The two-channel operation allows the dynamic range of the photomultiplier to be expanded, in which, for each time interval, the measured value for the light to be measured is selected on the basis of an adjustable range limit from the channel that operates as a photon counter or the channel that is operated in the current mode.
A method for providing photodetection in which signal pulses, generated by a photomultiplier in accordance with incident photons of light being measured, are provided at a first output tap of the photomultiplier and in which a pulse count per unit time is determined by addition of individually detected signal pulses provided by a discriminator circuit during set time intervals, characterized in that a current signal triggered by the photons is provided at a second output tap of the photomultiplier in parallel with the signal pulses, the first and second output taps having a voltage divider therebetween, and in that in each of the time intervals a value representing the light measurement which is below a set threshold is determined from the pulse count and that which is above the set threshold is determined from the current signal.
A system for photodetection comprising a photomultiplier that amplifies, as signal pulses, photoelectrons that are triggered by incidental photons of light to be measured, a pulse height discriminator coupled to receive amplified signal pulses from the pulse amplifier, and a counter that adds the signal pulses transferred thereto by the pulse height discriminator at successive time intervals, forming a pulse count each time, and further comprising another amplifier which is supplied with a current signal from the photomultiplier and outputs an analog signal, the signal pulses and the analog signal are provided at different tapped output locations of said photomultiplier, and means for measured value selection such that, for each time interval, the pulse count or the analog signal can be selected automatically to determine the measured value for the light to be measured.
A method for providing photodetection in which signal pulses generated by a photomultipliers, in accordance with incident photons of light being measured, are derived at an output of the photomultiplier and in which a pulse count per unit time is determined by addition of individually detected signal pulses provided by a discriminator circuit during set time intervals,
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.