Preliminary Investigation of a Waveform Analysis with the WASA and the ACQIRIS Readout Electronics

TL;DR

This study compares WASA and ACQIRIS readout electronics for waveform analysis in a neutron detection prototype, validating their operational principles using simulated signals before further systematic testing.

Contribution

It provides a comparative evaluation of two readout systems for a neutron detection prototype, demonstrating their feasibility for waveform analysis.

Findings

Both readout systems successfully analyzed signals from the prototype.

Different pre-amplifier options were tested and characterized.

The study validated the basic operation principles of both systems.

Abstract

The Group for the development of neutron and gamma detectors in the Central Institute of Engineering, Electronics and Analytics (ZEA-2) at Forschungszentrum J\"ulich (FZJ) is developing a fast Anger Camera prototype for improving the rejection of the gamma contamination during the detection of neutrons. The prototype is based on a scintillating plate for neutron capture and on the subsequent generation of scintillating light collected by a matrix of 4x4 vacuum Photomultipliers R268 by Hamamatsu. According to the impinging point position of the incoming neutrons the light is collected by different PMTs, and via dedicated algorithms the x and y coordinates can be calculated. In this note the WASA and ACQIRIS readout electronics are compared while performing a waveform analysis of the signals generated by using both an analogue pulse generator and an LED+PMT system. Different options of pre-amplifiers and amplifiers are considered, and the results are here presented and commented. At this stage of the prototype development, systematical studies were not performed while the scope of this work was only to validate the principle of operations by using both readout systems.