Photomultiplier tube (PMT) is widely used in photon counting systems because of its gain and low light sensing capability in discrete photon region. PMT-based photon counters are used in various fields such as medical, particle counting and sizing, and pollution-level monitoring. The output of photon counter is highly influenced by discriminator threshold, PMT gain and PMT operating temperature. Inappropriate selection of these parameters results in inefficient and highly unstable counts. In this article, the effects on photon counting output due to variation in the above-mentioned parameters have been experimentally studied and discussed. For this purpose, a LabVIEW-based photon counting program was developed for continuous data acquisition using SR400 gated photon counter and further statistical analysis. General methodology of the selection of the above parameters for its optimum performance is explained in detail.

中文翻译：

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基于PMT的光子计数系统控制参数的优化

光电倍增管（PMT）由于其增益和在离散光子区域中的低光感应能力而广泛用于光子计数系统。基于PMT的光子计数器可用于医疗，颗粒计数和大小确定以及污染水平监控等各个领域。光子计数器的输出受鉴别器阈值，PMT增益和PMT工作温度的影响很大。这些参数的选择不当会导致计数效率低下和高度不稳定。在本文中，已经对上述参数的变化对光子计数输出的影响进行了实验研究和讨论。为此，开发了基于LabVIEW的光子计数程序，以使用SR400门控光子计数器进行连续数据采集并进行进一步的统计分析。