The KM3NeT multi-PMT optical module

The KM3NeT multi-PMT optical module

Aiello, S.

2022

The optical module of the KM3NeT neutrino telescope is an innovative multi-faceted large area photodetection module. It contains 31 three-inch photomultiplier tubes in a single 0.44m diameter pressure-resistant glass sphere. The module is a sensory device also comprising calibration instruments and electronics for power, readout and data acquisition. It is capped with a breakout-box with electronics for connection to an electro-optical cable for power and long-distance communication to the onshore control station. The design of the module was qualified for the first time in the deep sea in 2013. Since then, the technology has been further improved to meet requirements of scalability, cost-effectiveness and high reliability. The module features a sub-nanosecond timing accuracy and a dynamic range allowing the measurement of a single photon up to a cascade of thousands of photons, suited for the measurement of the Cherenkov radiation induced in water by secondary particles from interactions of neutrinos with energies in the range of GeV to PeV. A distributed production model has been implemented for the delivery of more than 6000 modules in the coming few years with an average production rate of more than 100 modules per month. In this paper a review is presented of the design of the multi-PMT KM3NeT optical module with a proven effective background suppression and signal recognition and sensitivity to the incoming direction of photons.

Cherenkov detectors
Large detector systems for particle and astroparticle physics
Neutrino detectors
High Tech Systems & Materials
Industrial Innovation

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3421aceb-6fab-4e79-bc74-52c7e070b83b

https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-0221/17/07/p07038

976163

IOP Publishing (for Sissa Medialab), Bristol, UK

1748-0221

Journal of Instrumentation, 17 (17)

Article written by the KM3NeT Collaboration (namens TNO: F.G.P. van der Knaap)

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