Development of a System for Absolute Quantum Efficiency Determination of Hybrid Photo Diodes

At CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, a new particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), is under development. The detectors at LHC require development of highly sophisticated technologies, including Hybrid Photo Diodes (HPD) for high efficiency, high resolution single photon detection with a large area coverage. During the HPD development phase, one of the crucial parameters in the optimization of the photocathode creation process is the quantum efficiency. The aim of this Master Thesis has been to design and implement a system for high precision, high resolution quantum efficiency determination over a large, 200-700 nm photon wavelength range. Commercially available components have been obtained, an optomechanical system has been designed and built, and all the necessary data acquisition, control and analysis software has been implemented. The relative precision of the measurement system has been determined to 2%, with additional possible systematic errors less than 2%. Various quantum efficiency measurements have been performed in order to demonstrate the functionality of the system. Possible improvements to the system are identified from the error analysis.