PbWO4 Cherenkov light contribution to Hamamatsu S8148 and zinc sulfide-silicon avalanche photodiodes signals

Abstract

Scintillation crystal-avalanche photodiode (APD) system is an important radiation detection technique. The lead tungstate (PbWO4) is one of the scintillation crystal used in high-energy physics experiments. The light generated in the PbWO4 crystal could be split into scintillation and Cherenkov components. GEANT4 simulation of the light generated by high-energy particles in the PbWO4 crystal shows that up to 20% of the light generated in the crystals is a result of the Cherenkov mechanism. The mean signals of the APDs were simulated by Single Particle Monte Carlo technique for the incident light produced in the PbWO4 crystal. The results show that the Cherenkov light contribution to the total signal is more than 20% for both the Hamamatsu S8148 and ZnS-Si APD structures placed at end of the crystal.