Advanced data readout technique for Multianode Position Sensitive Photomultiplier Tube applicable in radiation imaging detectors

Most of the best performing PSPMT tubes from Hamamatsu and Burle are designed with a pad-matrix anode layout. However, for obtaining a high resolution, a small-sized anode photomultiplier tubes are preferable; these tubes may have 64, 256 or 1024 anodes per tube. If the tubes are used in array to get a larger area detector, the number of analog channels may range from hundreds to thousands. Multichannel analog readout requires special electronics ICs, ASICs etc., which are attached to multichannel DAQ system. As a result, the data file and data processing time will be increased. Therefore, this readout could not be performed in a small project. Usually, most of radiation imaging applications allow the use of analog data processing in front-end electronics, significantly reducing the number of the detector's output lines to data acquisition without reducing the image quality. The idea of pad-matrix decoupling circuit with gain correction was invented and intensively tested in JLab. Several versions of PSPMT readout electronics were produced and studied. All developments were done and optimized specifically for radiation imaging projects. They covered high resolution SPECT, high speed PET, fast neutron imaging, and single tube and multi tube array systems. This paper presents and discusses the summary of the observed results in readout electronics evaluation with different PSPMTs and radiation imaging systems, as well as the advantages and limitations of the developed approach to radiation imaging detectors readout.