High-throughput single photon detection for effective stellar intensity interferometry

In this proceeding we present a high throughput single photon counting system able to detect at high photon count rates with the potential to enhance the effectiveness of stellar intensity interferometry (SII) measurements. The system consists of a photon detection module, PhotonPix™, and a time-tagging acquisition unit, LINTag, and enables nearly dead time free photon acquisition. PhotonPix™ is a sensor with an active area of 8mm diameter, based on a microchannel plate (MCP) photomultiplier tube (PMT) supported by fast integrated electronics. A quantum efficiency (QE) of over 30% in the UV and visible is reachable at the desired wavelength by choosing a matching photocathode. Here we report temporal resolution measurements of the system at various count rates. We observe a resolution better than 40 ps full width at half maximum (FWHM) at count rates of up to 10MHz with a marginal degradation down to 50 ps FWHM at 97MHz detected rate. This combination of high temporal resolution, fast acquisition and large sensitive area, enables SII measurements with higher significance and/or on dimmer stars.