DETECTORS AND EXPERIMENTAL METHODS

Digital discrimination of neutrons and γ rays with organic scintillation detectors in an 8-bit sampling system using frequency gradient analysis

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2012 Chinese Physical Society and the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Modern Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and IOP Publishing Ltd
, , Citation Yang Jun et al 2012 Chinese Phys. C 36 544 DOI 10.1088/1674-1137/36/6/011

1674-1137/36/6/544

Abstract

The feasibility of using frequency gradient analysis (FGA), a digital method based on Fourier transform, to discriminate neutrons and γ rays in the environment of an 8-bit sampling system has been investigated. The performances of most pulse shape discrimination methods in a scintillation detection system using the time-domain features of the photomultiplier tube anode signal will be lower or non-effective in this low resolution sampling system. However, the FGA method using the frequency-domain features of the anode signal exhibits a strong insensitivity to noise and can be used to discriminate neutrons and γ rays in the above sampling system. A detailed study of the quality of the FGA method in BC501A liquid scintillators is presented using a 5 G samples/s 8-bit oscilloscope and a 14.1 MeV neutron generator. A comparison of the discrimination results of the time-of-flight and conventional charge comparison (CC) methods proves the applicability of this technique. Moreover, FGA has the potential to be implemented in current embedded electronics systems to provide real-time discrimination in standalone instruments.

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10.1088/1674-1137/36/6/011