Jie's Conclusion

This experiment supported the hypothesis. The dark rate increased exponentially with temperature. Since the kinetic theory states that the energy distribution of an electron in a ensemble is exponential, increasing the average amount of energy in an electron would cause an exponential rise in the number of events. Similarly, lowering the energy needed to set off the SiPM would also produce a exponential rise in the number of events.

In effect, this has also solved overarching problem: Can we detect the energy from a single particle? Positive events were detected by the SiPM when there was no photon present in the enclosed box. Also, a higher temperature and bias voltage produced a significant statistical change in dark rate. This further supports the fact that the events were caused by the thermal energy of a single particle.

In the future, a more effective temperature controller could be used. Since the controller used in this experiment could only heat the SiPM up to 35 degrees Celsius, temperatures above that could not be tested. Also, due to the fear of freezing, temperatures below 3 degrees Celsius were also not tested. If this barrier were to be removed, it would be interesting to see how temperatures below freezing would effect the functionality of the SiPM.

Furthermore, much more data needs to be taken to better support these conclusions. Even though the data gathered so far show a clear exponential relationship, it is not nearly enough to make a definitive conclusion. More trials should be done with different temperatures and bias voltages to obtain a more reliable conclusion.

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