Digital signal processing for a thermal neutron detector using ZnS(Ag):6LiF scintillating layers read out with WLS fibers and SiPMs

TL;DR

This paper develops and compares digital signal processing methods for a thermal neutron detector using ZnS(Ag):6LiF scintillating layers, WLS fibers, and SiPMs, aiming to optimize detection performance.

Contribution

It introduces a digital photon counting system and evaluates three digital filters, comparing digital and analog signal processing approaches for neutron detection.

Findings

Digital filters improve neutron detection accuracy.

The digital CR-RC^4 filter outperforms other filters.

Analog and digital processing performances are comparable.

Abstract

We present a digital signal processing system based on a photon counting approach which we developed for a thermal neutron detector consisting of ZnS(Ag):6LiF scintillating layers read out with WLS fibers and SiPMs. Three digital filters have been evaluated: a moving sum, a moving sum after differentiation and a digital CR-RC^4 filter. The performances of the detector with these filters are presented. A full analog signal processing using a CR-RC^4 filter has been emulated digitally. The detector performance obtained with this analog approach is compared with the one obtained with the best performing digital approach.