Nuclear Engineering and Technology (Apr 2019)

The investigation of a new fast timing system based on DRS4 waveform sampling system

  • Xiuling Zhang,
  • Chengming Du,
  • Jinda Chen,
  • Herun Yang,
  • Jie kong,
  • Haibo Yang,
  • Peng Ma,
  • Guozhu Shi,
  • limin Duan,
  • Zhengguo Hu

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 51, no. 2
pp. 432 – 438

Abstract

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In the study of nuclear structure, the fast timing technique can be used to measure the lifetime of excited states. In the paper, we have developed a new fast timing system, which is made up of two LaBr3:Ce detectors and a set of waveform sampling system. The sampling system based on domino ring sampler version 4 chip (DRS4) can digitize and store the waveform information of detector signal, with a smaller volume and higher timing accuracy, and the waveform data are performed by means of digital waveform analysis methods. The coincidence time resolution of the fast timing system for two annihilation 511 keV γ photon is 200ps (FWHM), the energy resolution is 3.5%@511 keV, and the energy linear response in the large dynamic range is perfect. Meanwhile, to verify the fast timing performance of the system, the 152Gd-21+ state form β+ decay of 152Eu source is measured. The measured lifetime is 45.3(±5.0)ps, very close to the value of the National Nuclear Data Center (NNDC: 46.2((±3.9)ps). The experimental results indicate that the fast timing system is capable of measuring the lifetime of dozens of ps. Therefore, the system can be widely used in the research of the fast timing technology. Keywords: Fast timing technique, LaBr3:Ce scintilator, Waveform sampling system, Excited state lifetime