A simple method to improve the spatial uniformity of venetian-blind photomultiplier tubes

An improvement in the uniformity of venetian-blind photomultiplier tubes has been achieved by reducing the voltage difference between the first and second dynodes. The method has been applied to a gas proportional scintillation counter (GPSC) instrumented with a venetian-blind photomultiplier (PMT). When exposed to a 20-mm collimated 5.9-keV X-ray beam, an overall improvement in energy resolution for the GPSC/PMT combination from 20% to 11.5% was achieved. An alternative method that reduces the photocathode-to-first-dynode voltage was less effective and resulted in a severe degradation of detector energy resolution.