Characterization of the Hamamatsu R12699-406-M4 Photomultiplier Tube in Cold Xenon Environments

Abstract

The Hamamatsu R12699-406-M2 is a $2\times2$ multi-anode 2-inch photomultiplier tube that offers a compact form factor, low intrinsic radioactivity, and high photocathode coverage. These characteristics make it a promising candidate for next-generation xenon-based direct detection dark matter experiments, such as XLZD and PandaX-xT. We present a detailed characterization of this photosensor operated in cold xenon environments, focusing on its single photoelectron response, dark count rate, light emission, and afterpulsing behavior. The device demonstrated a gain exceeding $2\cdot 10^6$ at the nominal voltage of -1.0 kV, along with a low dark count rate of $(0.4\pm0.2)\;\text{Hz/cm}^2$. Due to the compact design, afterpulses exhibited short delay times, resulting in some cases in an overlap with the light-induced signal. To evaluate its applicability in a realistic detector environment, two R12699-406-M2 units were deployed in a small-scale dual-phase xenon time projection chamber. The segmented $2\times2$ anode structure enabled lateral position reconstruction using a single photomultiplier tube, highlighting the potential of the sensor for effective event localization in future detectors.