Evaluation of new large area PMT with high quantum efficiency

The neutrino detector of the Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO) is designed to use 20 kilotons of liquid scintillator and approximately 16 000 20 inch photomultipliers (PMTs). One of the options is to use the 20 inch R12860 PMT with high quantum efficiency which has recently been developed by Hamamatsu Photonics. The performance of the newly developed PMT preproduction samples is evaluated. The results show that its quantum efficiency is 30% at 400 nm. Its Peak/Valley (P/V) ratio for the single photoelectron is 4.75 and the dark count rate is 27 kHz at the threshold of 3 mV while the gain is at 1×10⁷. The transit time spread of a single photoelectron is 2.86 ns. Generally the performances of this new 20 inch PMT are improved over the old one of R3600.