The Silicon Photomultiplier for High Speed Photometry

The Silicon Photomultiplier (SPM) offers sensitivity comparable to conventional photomultipliers with the added advantage of small size, low operating voltages, and robust tolerance to excess/ambient light. A Peltier cooled SPM running at -30°C was used in conjunction with wideband electronics and a 17-inch Astrograph to collect photometric data without a reference star. High speed photometric trials were conducted on eclipsing binary AW UMa demonstrating fast data rate capability. Data shows the SPM exhibits excellent sensitivity, acceptable signal to noise, and bandwidth with sampling times as short as 1 millisecond for brighter targets. Automated digital data acquisition is discussed along with digital signal processing techniques for noise reduction, spectral analysis, and data mining. The SPM demonstrated acceptable signal to noise for fast photometric studies for 8-10th magnitude targets depending on scintillation and background conditions. Future SPM study topics are also discussed.