Development of the HL-2M digital pulse analysis system

A digital pulse analysis system is an important diagnostic system in nuclear physics experimental research.In response to the demand for reflecting the particle state in a nuclear physics experiment,we have designed and developed a real-time digital pulse analysis system and applied it to the digital nuclear pulse waveform discrimination of different detectors in the HL-2M tokamak.The system is based on the peripheral component interconnect extensions for instrumentation(PXI)platform,while its software was written in LABVIEW.The key technologies involved in the system implementation include digital pulse analysis technology,digital discrimination technology,pulse height analysis technology,etc.The system has been applied to the plastic scintillator detector at the Neutron Source Lab of the University of Science and Technology of China.And the experimental results indicate that the system can discriminate between neutron(n)particles and gamma(γ)particles well when used to measure the plastic scintillator detector.

Comparison of short- with long-term regeneration results after digital nerve reconstruction with musclein-vein conduits

Muscle-in-vein conduits are used alternatively to nerve grafts for bridging nerve defects. The purpose of this study was to examine short- and long-term regeneration results after digital nerve reconstruction with muscle-in-vein conduits. Static and moving two-point discriminations and Semmes-Weinstein Monofilaments were used to evaluate sensory recovery 6–12 months and 14–35 months after repair of digital nerves with muscle-in-vein in 7 cases. Both follow-ups were performed after clinical signs of progressing regeneration disappeared. In 4 of 7 cases, a further recovery of both two-point discriminations and in another case of only the static two-point discrimination of 1–3 mm could be found between the short-term and long-term follow-up examination. Moreover, a late recovery of both two-point discriminations was demonstrated in another case. Four of 7 cases showed a sensory improvement by one Semmes-Weinstein Monofilaments. This pilot study suggests that sensory recovery still takes place even when clinical signs of progressing regeneration disappear.

Baseline drift effect on the performance of neutron and γ ray discrimination using frequency gradient analysis

Frequency gradient analysis （FGA） effectively discriminates neutrons and γ rays by examining the frequency-domain features of the photomultiplier tube anode signal. This approach is insensitive to noise but is inevitably affected by the baseline drift similar to other pulse shape discrimination methods. The baseline drift effect is attributed to factors such as power line fluctuation, dark current, noise disturbances, hum, and pulse tail in front-end electronics. This effect needs to be elucidated and quantified before the baseline shift can be estimated and removed from the captured signal. Therefore, the effect of baseline shift on the discrimination performance of neutrons and ~ rays with organic scintillation detectors using FGA is investigated in this paper. The relationship between the baseline shift and discrimination parameters of FGA is derived and verified by an experimental system consisting of an americium-beryllium source, a BC501A liquid scintillator detector, and a 5 GSample/s 8-bit oscilloscope. The theoretical and experimental results both show that the estimation of the baseline shift is necessary, and the removal of baseline drift from the pulse shapes can improve the discrimination performance of FGA.

A fast digital timing and analysis system based on real-time dCFD technique for nuclear physics experiments

In this paper a fast digital real-time spectrometer was developed for timing and analysis of nuclear pulse signals. The hardware system design and algorithm implementation with field-programming gate array （FPGA） and digital signal processor （DSP） were introduced. The performance of the digital constant fraction discrimination （dCFD） platform was experimentally tested with Agilent 80 MHz function/arbitrary waveform generator and LaC13：Ce3＋ scintillator detector for 22Na positron annihilation gamma spectroscopy. The amplitude and time information of ＂/photon was online obtained. The energy resolution could be 5.525% and the timing resolution 293.75 ps, the system error estimation of dCFD approach was also studied. The results showed that this spectrometer achieved a timing resolution close to that of traditional CFD timing resolution with a more sim- plified system structure.

Design of a high-sampling-rate electronic module for array-detector positron annihilation lifetime measurements

Introduction In this study,a high-time-resolution electronic module with a high channel density and low power consumption was designed for the measurement of the multi-detector array positron annihilation lifetimes.This electronic module consisted of 32 input channels,and each channel provided a high sampling rate up to 5.12 GSPS based on a Domino Ring Sampler 4(DRS4)chip.Compared to the high-speed flash analog-digital converter(FADC),DRS4 chip has a higher channel density with an affordable lower price and power consumption.Methods The developed electronic module was also capable of real-time data analysis for directly extracting the time information of input signals at the data acquisition site,thereby significantly decreasing the data rate.The digital constant fraction discriminator(DCFD)algorithm was implemented in the field programmable gate array(FPGA)for performing the time pick-up.Results The coincidence time resolution of the electronic module was measured,and the test results revealed a value of 26 ps.A prototypical 16-pixel detector module of the multi-detector system was evaluated using this electronic module,and the coincidence time resolution of the prototypical module was 411.84 ps.Conclusions The electronic module was confirmed to satisfy the severe requirements of the multi-array-detector positron annihilation lifetime measurement system.It was also suitable for other high-time-resolution,high-channel-density,costeffective,and low-power-consumption applications.