A system based on commercially available items, such as a laser diode,
emitting in the visible range ∼400 nm,and multimode fiber patches, fused
fiber splitters and optical switches may be assembled,for time calibration of
multi-channels time-of-flight (TOF) detectors with photomultipliers' (PMTs')
readout. As available laser diode sources have unfortunately limited peak
power, the main experimental problem is the tight light power budget of such a
system. In addition, while the technology for fused fiber splitters is common
in the Telecom wavelength range (λ∼850,1300−1500 nm), it is not
easily available in the visible one. Therefore, extensive laboratory tests had
to be done on purpose, to qualify the used optical components, and a full scale
timing calibration prototype was built. Obtained results show that with such a
system, a calibration resolution (σ) in the range 20-30 ps may be within
reach. Therefore, fast multi-channels TOF detectors, with timing resolutions in
the range 50-100 ps, may be easily calibrated in time. Results on tested
optical components may be of interest also for time calibration of different
light detection systems based on PMTs, as the ones used for detection of the
vacuum ultraviolet scintillation light emitted by ionizing particles in large
LAr TPCs.Comment: submitted to JINS