  Today the Hybrid Photon Detector (HPD) is one of the few low light level
(LLL) sensors that can provide an excellent single and multiple photoelectron
(ph.e.) amplitude resolution. The recently developed HPDs for the MAGIC
telescope project with a GaAsP photocathode, namely the R9792U-40, provide a
peak quantum efficiency (QE) of more than 50% and a pulse width of ~2 nsec. In
addition, the afterpulsing rate of these tubes is very low compared to that of
conventional photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), i.e. the value is ~300 times lower.
Photocathode aging measurements showed life time of more than 10 years under
standard operating conditions of the Cherenkov Telescopes. Here we want to
report on the recent progress with the above mentioned HPDs.

Astrophysics