Understanding key parameters of silicon photomultipliers

Silicon photomultiplier users can expand on basic operating principles by understanding methods that experimentally determine key parameters of this detector such as gain, photon detection efficiency, and prevalence of noise. The silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) is becoming a popular photodetection, choice in applications where even individual photons must be detected. Although manufacturers of SiPMs provide information on their products, an independent check of the detector's characteristics. The incidence of after-pulsing and crosstalk is correlated with the occurrence of an avalanche triggered either by a photo-generated or thermally generated charge carrier.