IAEA-TECDOC-1706 IAEA-TECDOC-1706 ■ INSTRUMEN TATIO N F N O R D R IG ITA L NUCLEAR SPECTROSCO Instrumentation for Digital Nuclear Spectroscopy PY Proceedings of the IAEA Technical Meeting Held in Vienna, Austria, 11–15 October 2010 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA ISBN 978–92–0–141310–9 ISSN 1011–4289 @ INSTRUMENTATION FOR DIGITAL NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPY The following States are Members of the International Atomic Energy Agency: AFGHANISTAN GUATEMALA PANAMA ALBANIA HAITI PAPUA NEW GUINEA ALGERIA HOLY SEE PARAGUAY ANGOLA HONDURAS PERU ARGENTINA HUNGARY PHILIPPINES ARMENIA ICELAND POLAND AUSTRALIA INDIA PORTUGAL AUSTRIA INDONESIA AZERBAIJAN IRAN, ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF QATAR BAHRAIN IRAQ REPUBLIC OF MOLDOVA BANGLADESH IRELAND ROMANIA BELARUS ISRAEL RUSSIAN FEDERATION BELGIUM ITALY RWANDA BELIZE JAMAICA SAUDI ARABIA BENIN JAPAN SENEGAL BOLIVIA JORDAN SERBIA BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA KAZAKHSTAN SEYCHELLES BOTSWANA KENYA SIERRA LEONE BRAZIL KOREA, REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA KUWAIT SINGAPORE BURKINA FASO KYRGYZSTAN SLOVAKIA BURUNDI LAO PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC SLOVENIA CAMBODIA REPUBLIC SOUTH AFRICA CAMEROON LATVIA SPAIN CANADA LEBANON SRI LANKA CENTRAL AFRICAN LESOTHO SUDAN REPUBLIC LIBERIA SWAZILAND CHAD LIBYA SWEDEN CHILE LIECHTENSTEIN SWITZERLAND CHINA LITHUANIA COLOMBIA LUXEMBOURG SYRIAN ARAB REPUBLIC CONGO MADAGASCAR TAJIKISTAN COSTA RICA MALAWI THAILAND CÔTE D’IvOIRE MALAYSIA THE FORMER YUGOSLAV CROATIA MALI REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA CUBA MALTA TOGO CYPRUS MARSHALL ISLANDS TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO CZECH REPUBLIC MAURITANIA TUNISIA DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC MAURITIUS TURKEY OF THE CONGO MEXICO UGANDA DENMARK MONACO DOMINICA MONGOLIA UKRAINE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC MONTENEGRO UNITED ARAB EMIRATES ECUADOR MOROCCO UNITED KINGDOM OF EGYPT MOZAMBIQUE GREAT BRITAIN AND EL SALVADOR MYANMAR NORTHERN IRELAND ERITREA NAMIBIA UNITED REPUBLIC ESTONIA NEPAL OF TANZANIA ETHIOPIA NETHERLANDS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA NEW ZEALAND FIJI URUGUAY FINLAND NICARAGUA UZBEKISTAN FRANCE NIGER GABON NIGERIA VENEZUELA GEORGIA NORWAY VIETNAM GERMANY OMAN YEMEN GHANA PAKISTAN ZAMBIA GREECE PALAU ZIMBABWE The Agency’s Statute was approved on 23 October 1956 by the Conference on the Statute of the IAEA held at United Nations Headquarters, New York; it entered into force on 29 July 1957. The Headquarters of the Agency are situated in Vienna. Its principal objective is “to accelerate and enlarge the contribution of atomic energy to peace, health and prosperity throughout the world’’. IAEA-TECDOC-1706 INSTRUMENTATION FOR DIGITAL NUCLEAR SPECTROSCOPY PROCEEDINGS OF THE IAEA TECHNICAL MEETING HELD IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA, 11–15 OCTOBER 2010 INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY VIENNA, 2013 COPYRIGHT NOTICE All IAEA scientific and technical publications are protected by the terms of the Universal Copyright Convention as adopted in 1952 (Berne) and as revised in 1972 (Paris). The copyright has since been extended by the World Intellectual Property Organization (Geneva) to include electronic and virtual intellectual property. Permission to use whole or parts of texts contained in IAEA publications in printed or electronic form must be obtained and is usually subject to royalty agreements. Proposals for non-commercial reproductions and translations are welcomed and considered on a case-by-case basis. Enquiries should be addressed to the IAEA Publishing Section at: Marketing and Sales Unit, Publishing Section International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre PO Box 100 1400 Vienna, Austria fax: +43 1 2600 29302 tel.: +43 1 2600 22417 email: [email protected] http://www.iaea.org/books For further information on this publication, please contact: Physics Section International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre PO Box 100 1400 Vienna, Austria Email: [email protected] © IAEA, 2013 Printed by the IAEA in Austria June 2013 IAEA Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Instrumentation for digital nuclear spectroscopy : proceedings of the technical meeting held in Vienna, Austria, 11-15 October 2010. – Vienna : International Atomic Energy Agency, 2013. p. ; 30 cm. – (IAEA-TECDOC series, ISSN 1011-4289 ; no. 1706) ISBN 978-92-0-141310-9 Includes bibliographical references. 1. Nuclear engineering – Instruments. 2. Nuclear spectroscopy – Congresses. 3. Detectors – Design and construction. I. International Atomic Energy Agency. II. Series. IAEAL 13-00816 FOREWORD All nuclear facilities and institutions utilize radiation detectors to a certain extent as part of their operations, be it for research, monitoring or analytical purposes. Every radiation detector employed needs to have compatible nuclear electronics optimally matched to the detector’s characteristics to achieve best possible system performance. Improvements in system performance are made possible in many cases by significant advances in digital electronics enabling new and enhanced methods to acquire and process signals from radiation detectors, and due to digital pulse rapidly replacing analog pulse processing in many nuclear spectrometry systems. This publication reviews the status, developments, and approaches in digital pulse processing in nuclear spectrometry, providing useful information for interested Member States to apply effectively and take advantage of new possibilities afforded by this technique. The electronics attached to radiation detectors capture and process the electrical signals generated by the radiation detectors and produce, as a final output, a digital signature containing information about the radiation that activated the radiation detector. The design objective of the electronic circuitry is to obtain maximum information about the radiation detected, and information of the best possible quality, reliability and throughput. Digital electronics and digital pulse processing methods have shown radiation spectrometry systems to be capable of accepting higher throughputs when compared with analog electronics. This opens up new opportunities in high resolution spectrometry at high count rates, an area of great interest to researchers using high intensity neutron beam and X ray beam facilities. Digital pulse processing technology has been proven to maintain system performance almost constant, independent of For further information on this publication, please contact: throughput, and with greater stability and resistance against temperature variations and noise sources. Physics Section As a result, the quality, quantity and reliability of data delivered are increased and advances and International Atomic Energy Agency Vienna International Centre new applications in handheld field instruments, and in remote and unattended nuclear spectrometry PO Box 100 systems, are also enabled. 1400 Vienna, Austria Email: [email protected] The objective of this technical meeting is to provide a forum for researchers and various industrial partners involved in the development of nuclear spectrometry to share best practices and practical © IAEA, 2013 experiences in the design, use and implementation of digital pulse processing in nuclear spectrometry. Printed by the IAEA in Austria June 2013 The meeting reviewed the state of the art and current trends in the field of digital pulse processing, the advantages and limitations, end user demands and future prospects. This publication summarizes the findings and conclusions arising from this technical meeting. The IAEA wishes to express its appreciation to all those who contributed to the production of this publication and especially to N. Dytlewski, who revised and finalized the manuscript. The IAEA officer responsible for this publication was A. Zeman of the Division of Physical and Chemical Science. EDITORIAL NOTE This publication (including the figures, tables and references) has undergone only the minimum copy editing considered necessary for the reader’s assistance. The views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the IAEA, the governments of the nominating Member States or the nominating organizations. The use of particular designations of countries or territories does not imply any judgement by the publisher, the IAEA, as to the legal status of such countries or territories, of their authorities and institutions or of the delimitation of their boundaries. The mention of names of specific companies or products (whether or not indicated as registered) does not imply any intention to infringe proprietary rights, nor should it be construed as an endorsement or recommendation on the part of the IAEA. The authors are responsible for having obtained the necessary permission for the IAEA to reproduce, translate or use material from sources already protected by copyrights. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................ 1 2. BENEFITS OF DIGITAL PULSE PROCESSING .......................................................... 4 3. MIGRATING FROM ANALOG TO DIGITAL PULSE PROCESSING ....................... 6 4. BRIEF SUMMARY OF CONTRIBUTIONS .................................................................. 7 Digital pulse processor for ion beam microprobe and micro X ray fluorescence 2-D and 3-D imaging ........................................................................................................................... 9 M. Bogovac, M. Jaksic, D. Wegrzynek, A. Markowicz Set-up of digital MCA with HPGE detector in high gamma fields ......................................... 25 P. Bryndziar Digital pulser for characterization and diagnostic of digital spectrometers ............................