A New Fast Silicon Photomultiplier Photometer

The realization of low-cost instruments with high technical performance is a goal that deserves some efforts in an epoch of fast technological developments; indeed, such instruments can be easily reproduced and therefore allow new research programs to be opened in several observatories.We realized a fast optical photometer based on the SiPM technology, using commercially available modules. Using low-cost components, we have developed a custom electronic chain to extract the signal produced by a commercial MPPC module produced by Hamamatsu Photonics, in order to obtain submillisecond sampling of the light curve of astronomical sources (typically, pulsars). In the early 2011 February, we observed the Crab pulsar with the Cassini telescope with our prototype photometer, deriving its period and power spectrum and the shape of its light curve, in very good agreement with the results obtained in the past with other instruments. © 2012. The Astronomical Society of the Pacific. All rights reserved.