title: Digital pulse shape discrimination.
abstract: Pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) has been utilised for about 40 years as a method to obtain estimates for dose in mixed neutron and photon fields. Digitizers that operate close to GHz are currently available at a reasonable cost, and they can be used to directly sample signals from photomultiplier tubes. This permits one to perform digital PSD rather than the traditional, and well-established, analogoue techniques. One issue that complicates PSD for neutrons in mixed fields is that the light output characteristics of typical scintillators available for PSD, such as BC501A, vary as a function of energy deposited in the detector. This behaviour is more easily accommodated with digital processing of signals than with analogoue signal processing. Results illustrate the effectiveness of digital PSD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nuclear Engineering, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-2300, USA. lfmiller@utk.edu
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Preston
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Pozzi
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Flaska
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Neal
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D016002:Discriminant Analysis; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D009502:Neutrons; D010363:Pattern Recognition, Automated / Q000379:methods; D011829:Radiation Dosage; D011834:Radiation Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D011835:Radiation Protection / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation*