Proof-of-Concept and User Perspective on Photon-to-Digital Converter Applications in Particle Physics
Abstract
Photon-to-Digital Converters (PDCs) are photosensors with single photon resolution and large dynamic range that digitise the output of individual single-photon avalanche diodes directly on-chip, offering potential advantages with respect to analogue Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs). In this work, we assess the PDC technology from the perspective of particle physics, using early, low-coverage PDC prototypes for proof-of-concept studies in calorimetry and tracking. Under simple, but extrapolable, detector conditions, we qualitatively compare PDCs with SiPM-based systems to illustrate their potential in terms of detector performance and readout. As the first application of this technology to particle physics instrumentation, we place particular emphasis on the user perspective, reporting on the practical experience of operating PDCs, from setup and calibration to data handling, and highlighting the relative ease of integration compared to conventional SiPM readout. We discuss the potential of PDCs to address key challenges in large-scale instrumentation, and their prospective integration into next-generation high-energy physics experiments.
Related
- Characterization of a low-power 3D photon-to-digital converter readout improved for system integration in meter-scale applications
- The RUBIK satellite payload concept: a 3D-segmented plastic scintillation-based particle tracking detector
- Future perspective of muons; a quantum particle measuring quantum processes
- Wave-Particle Complementarity in Quantum Walk from a Quantum Mechanical Perspective
- Digital-analog concept for superconducting perceptron-like neural networks
BibTeX
@misc{garciaperis2026proofofconcept,
title = {{Proof-of-Concept and User Perspective on Photon-to-Digital Converter Applications in Particle Physics}},
author = {M. Á. García-Peris and B. Palmeiro and G. Lessard and R. Guenette and S. A. Charlebois and E. Gramellini and J. -F. Pratte and T. Rossignol and N. Roy and F. Vachon},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.21864},
eprint = {2609.21864},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21864},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Proof-of-Concept and User Perspective on Photon-to-Digital Converter Applications in Particle Physics
AU - M. Á. García-Peris
AU - B. Palmeiro
AU - G. Lessard
AU - R. Guenette
AU - S. A. Charlebois
AU - E. Gramellini
AU - J. -F. Pratte
AU - T. Rossignol
AU - N. Roy
AU - F. Vachon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/18
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.21864
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.21864
AB - Photon-to-Digital Converters (PDCs) are photosensors with single photon resolution and large dynamic range that digitise the output of individual single-photon avalanche diodes directly on-chip, offering potential advantages with respect to analogue Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs). In this work, we assess the PDC technology from the perspective of particle physics, using early, low-coverage PDC prototypes for proof-of-concept studies in calorimetry and tracking. Under simple, but extrapolable, detector conditions, we qualitatively compare PDCs with SiPM-based systems to illustrate their potential in terms of detector performance and readout. As the first application of this technology to particle physics instrumentation, we place particular emphasis on the user perspective, reporting on the practical experience of operating PDCs, from setup and calibration to data handling, and highlighting the relative ease of integration compared to conventional SiPM readout. We discuss the potential of PDCs to address key challenges in large-scale instrumentation, and their prospective integration into next-generation high-energy physics experiments.
ER -