Newport's Photon Counting Detectors provide a complete solution in a single module, which means that it is no longer necessary to be an optics or electronics expert to implement high resolution photon counting. The sensors used in these modules feature a novel quenching architecture that provides state-of-the-art timing-jitter, thereby exceeding the typical sensing performance of Photomultiplier Tubes (PMT) in all key photon counting parameters such as Photon Detection Efficiency, Dark Count, Timing-Jitter and After-Pulsing.

PCD Series Photon Counting Device: This is the first miniature photon counting system on the market, making it ideal for lab use and industrial system integration. Its integrated counter functionality eliminates the requirement for a separate data acquisition system. The sensor is housed in a hermetically sealed TO8 can and mounted on a two-stage Peltier cooler. During normal operation the detector is cooled to –20°C. This allows even greater performance over room temperature operation as the dark count is typically reduced by an order of magnitude. The PCD Series sensors are supplied with an integrated power supply and can be post-mounted via a tapped hole located on the bottom of the housing.

Integrated Software Environment
The PCD sensors interface to an integrated software environment, ...

Newport's Photon Counting Detectors provide a complete solution in a single module, which means that it is no longer necessary to be an optics or electronics expert to implement high resolution photon counting. The sensors used in these modules feature a novel quenching architecture that provides state-of-the-art timing-jitter, thereby exceeding the typical sensing performance of Photomultiplier Tubes (PMT) in all key photon counting parameters such as Photon Detection Efficiency, Dark Count, Timing-Jitter and After-Pulsing.

PCD Series Photon Counting Device: This is the first miniature photon counting system on the market, making it ideal for lab use and industrial system integration. Its integrated counter functionality eliminates the requirement for a separate data acquisition system. The sensor is housed in a hermetically sealed TO8 can and mounted on a two-stage Peltier cooler. During normal operation the detector is cooled to –20°C. This allows even greater performance over room temperature operation as the dark count is typically reduced by an order of magnitude. The PCD Series sensors are supplied with an integrated power supply and can be post-mounted via a tapped hole located on the bottom of the housing.

Integrated Software Environment
The PCD sensors interface to an integrated software environment, providing a full featured graphical user interface. This GUI is compatible with all our photon counting products and gives the user an interface to multiple detector modules and variants of products simultaneously.
The software gives the user several levels of functionality, namely system monitoring, sensor optimization, integrated counting and count data display/management. The software communicates with the module via the USB interface using a proprietary high speed protocol, continuously uploading system data and the count data for storage on the PC. Should firmware upgrades be necessary the user has the ability to upgrade via the graphical user interface. The data can also be exported using standard data formats for manipulation in other applications.

PCD Series Modules include 20 or 100 µm sensors. These modules come with an optional C-Mount adapter available for attaching filters and light collection lenses. A fiber pigtailed version, optimized at four different wavelengths, is available with a jacketed 50/125µm multimode fiber terminated with a FC/PC connector.