X-ray-sensitive hybrid photon detectors with Be-windows

A 0.3-mm thin YAlO₃(Ce) scintillating crystal plate of 22 mm diameter was mounted inside an electrostatic-focussed hybrid photomultiplier tube (HPMT). The photocathode was evaporated directly on this scintillating plate opposite to the HPMT-anode. The HPMT was vacuum-sealed with a 1-mm thick Be radiation entrance window. Photoelectron numbers at their peak energies of photoabsorption and energy resolutions were measured between 3.69 and 59.6 keV. The average number of photoelectrons produced per keV radiation energy was determined to be 4.457 phel/keV and the energy resolution at 59.6 keV was 17%. Introducing in the same way such a thin YAlO₃(Ce) plate inside an imaging silicon pixel array (ISPA) tube would improve its spatial resolution, since it depends on the thickness of the X-ray detector.