Let’s talk about PMTs in reference to this post: X-ray PMTs reveal more than 60 keV electron energies, triple pulse structure

For the laypeople reading this, a PMT is a photo-multiplier tube.  Here are some pictures of various PMT‘s (they’re used throughout the lab).  Note those were some of the first pictures uploaded after setting up lightroom with flickr, so it was just an experimental upload.  We continue to work on streamlining the photo project.  We have many more pictures, better quality, related to PMTs.  We also plan to fill in the gaps with pictures & diagrams to explain how PMTs work, and the purpose of PMTs in a fusion experiment. 

Once we get adequate resources, we will make these content intensive activities a priority.

Feel free to jump in and write up a clear, concise explanation of PMTs that we can post.

Also, the PMT is really simple from the outside.  A tube.  We’d like someone to explain what’s going on inside.  If you have sketches or animation, that would be nice.  Something more detailed that this.

Probably a start
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photomultiplier#Structure_and_operating_principles

Here’s a copy of the Wiki illustration: (it’s a png; the thumbnail doesn’t actually show it. Click and all will be revealed!)