Development of Picosecond-Resolution Large-Area Time-of-Flight Systems

The measurement of time-of-flight (TOF) of relativistic particles in high-energy colliders with picosecond resolution would qualitatively change the ability to identify underlying parton-level processes at future colliders or upgrades of existing detectors. We have measured the timing properties of three micro-channel plate photo-multiplier tubes (MCPPMTs) from Photonis; one with 1024 anodes and the other two with 64 anodes. The 1024-anode 10-micron pore tube uses a charge-collection scheme at the anode to provide equal arrival time of the signal independent of the hit position of incident light on the face of the tube. The two 64-anode 25-micron pore tubes have a commercially available collection scheme and were used to find a limit on the timing resolution. We have performed these measurements using a newly assembled test-stand based on a Hamamatsu PLP-10 picosecond laser and a commercial CAMAC readout electronics system. We present these results and compare timing properties to earlier versions of the charge collection scheme.