Towards Digital γ-Ray and Particle Spectroscopy
Digital spectroscopy is an experimental technique for directly processing of detector signals without analog signal shaping. Digital spectrometers capture the detailed shape of preamplifier signals with high speed ADCs, and then process captured waveforms in real time with field-programmable gate arrays and digital signal processors, that perform digitally all essential data processing functions, including precise energy measurement and event timing, ballistic deficit correction, pulse shape analysis, and time stamping the output data for offline analysis. Applications of this novel technology include position sensitive gamma -ray spectroscopy with arrays of Ge detectors and high-speed particle emission spectroscopy. In both applications digital spectrometers process signals from semiconductor detectors in order to measure the interaction energy, time, and location within the detector volume. Excellent energy resolution and essentially zero dead time can be easily obtained with XIA digital spectrometer devices, even when time separation between consecutive events in a decay chain is shorter than 1 mu s. These and other applications of digital spectroscopy are at the frontier of experimental nuclear chemistry and nuclear physics.
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