Timing characteristics of the R13089-100 photomultiplier tube coupled with 1.5" × 1.5" CeBr₃ scintillators and its application in lifetime measurements

Abstract The fast-timing performance of the Hamamatsu Photomultiplier Tube (PMT) model R13089-100 is investigated using 1.5" × 1.5" CeBr3 scintillators. The time walk was measured using the Mirror-Symmetric Centroid Difference (MSCD) method for various PMT Bias voltages and CFD delays, to optimize the parameters for measurement of the lifetime of nuclear excited states via the γ-γ fast-timing technique. The 152Eu and 133Ba sources were used for investigation on timing characteristics. Lifetimes of 161 and 383 keV states of 133Cs from the decay of 133Ba radioactive source have been determined for different bias voltages of PMT and CFD delays, with two 1.5" × 1.5" CeBr3 detector setup. The lifetime of 1522 keV state of 209Po from the decay of 209At, produced from α induced fusion evaporation reaction, has also been determined. The results reported in the present paper show that the time resolution and time-walk characteristics of the Hamamatsu PMT R13089-100 can be improved in low-energy region using higher PMT bias voltage and shorter CFD delay.