LNS Activity Report 2003

DIGITAL SIGNAL PROCESSING FROM CHIMERA:

GENERALITIES AND PULSE SHAPE ACQUISITION
OF ( E,FAST) SCATTER PLOTS

M.Alderighia, A.Anzaloneb, R.Bassinic, C.Boianoc, G.Cardellad, S.Cavallarob, E.DeFilippod, E.Geracif, F.Giustolisib,

P.Guazzonic,*, E.Laguidarab, G.Lanzanòd, G.Lanzaloneb, A.Paganod, M.Papad, S.Pirroned, G.Politid, F. Portob,
S.Russoc, M.Sassic, G.Sechia, L.Zettac.

a) INFN and IASF-CNR, Milano - Italy

b) LNS and Dipartimento di Fisica Università di Catania - Italy
c) Dipartimento di Fisica Università di Milano and INFN - Italy
d) INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica Università di Catania - Italy
e) INFN and Dipartimento di Fisica Università di Bologna - Italy
* Corresponding author, e-mail: paolo.guazzoni@mi.infn.it

Abstract
A 100 Msamples/s 14-bit Sampling Analog-to-Digital converter has been used to perform digital pulse-
shape acquisition of signals collected from CHIMERA telescopes. The signals from a typical CHIMERA
detection cell have been collected using a very simple analog front end, basically reduced to the preamplifier.
The preliminary on-beam results for ( E,Fast) scatter plots are presented in this contribution.

allowed by post-triggering of the pulse, spurious pulse

! INTRODUCTION
Aim of this series of contributions is to present a
digital signal processing method which is able to fully
exploit the performance of last generation 4!-Detector
Arrays, with an additional advantage of a possible big
reduction of the realization costs. In order to simplify
the electronic chain of multidetector telescopes, we have
carried out some tests using commercial Sampling
Analog-to-Digital Converter (SADC) modules to
perform a real-time digital pulse-shape analysis of the
signals coming from a standard detection cell of
CHIMERA (i.e. a telescope of a 300 µm silicon detector
and a 6x6x12 cm3 CsI(Tl) scintillator coupled to a
photodiode), directly collecting signals from the
preamplifier. The preliminary on-beam results obtained
for ( E,Fast) scatter plots are presented in this
contribution.
2 SIGNAL PROCESSING
In view of new 4π-Detector Array projects [1,2] we
have implemented an ad hoc system to digitally process
data collected from a typical CHIMERA detection cell.
This work has been motivated by both the increasing
employment of digital pulse-shape analysis in γ-
spectroscopy and our previous experience in on-line
digital signal processing [3,4]. The advantages of using
digital techniques in gamma-spectroscopy have been
extensively proved. Digital pulse shape acquisition,
among many other possibilities, can be used for
correction of pulse distortion due to electronic noise and
pulse pile-up [5], for efficient baseline correction,
discrimination based on their shape analysis and pulse
energy evaluation [6], or for pulse height analysis. More
in detail, many advantages arise from the use of digital
pulse shape acquisition: a) possibility to implement
online computation of algorithms directly on the shape
of collected pulses such as optimal filters which are
hardly realized with analog techniques; b) insensitivity
to pick-up noise, as soon as the signal has been
digitized; c) flexibility and possibility to periodically
recalibrate the system with software procedures.
The use of fast computers, such as new bi-processors
with 2.4 GHz new generation CPU that allow for fast
on-line real-time analysis on the digitized data, is
another advantage with respect to the standard analog
way.
The aim of the preliminary on-beam tests was to
verify the feasibility of digital signal processing using
typical detection cells of a multidetector with emphasis
on achieving good identification over a very large
dynamic range such as that of an experiment in the
intermediate energy regime (10-40 AMeV).
In all tests, an acquisition rate of hundreds of Hz has
been reached, fully compatible with CHIMERA
acquisition rate.
For our sampling data acquisition system we have
chosen to use commercial Sampling ADCs to save
manpower. The only constraints we have complied in
the choice have been that the digitizer resolution was
good enough to cover the full reaction dynamics (up to
GeVs) and its sampling rate satisfied the Nyquist
frequency.
 The ADC used is a SIS3301 [7], an 8-channel 6U
VME digitizer/transient recorder with a sampling rate of
up to 105 MHz for the individual channel and 14-bit
resolution. It manages a dual memory bank, a multievent
functionality and pre/post trigger capability.
SADC was located in a VME crate, together with an
embedded CPU module, a VP7 by SBS Technologies
[8]. The VP7 is a 6U all-in-one VME-bus CPU based on
Pentium III processor (700 MHz).
In Fig. 1 the block diagram of the acquisition program
is shown. It is written in Visual C++ and runs under
Windows NT 4.0.
Fig. 1: Block diagram of the acquisition program running onVP7.
3 EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
As previously said, we decided to collect signals
directly from the preamplifiers of both Silicon and
CsI(Tl) detectors. A two-stage preamplifier [9],
developed by the Electronic Laboratory of the Sezione
di Milano of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare,
has been used instead of the standard CHIMERA
preamplifier. Its first stage is a charge preamplifier; the
second one an output buffer. Different sensitivities have
been used for silicon detector (2.5 mV/MeV, gain 2) and
CsI(Tl) scintillator (90 mV/MeV, gain 2).
For a square pulse (rise-time 5 ns, width 1 ms and
frequency 100 Hz) the output signal of the preamplifier
– properly modified to perform this test – has a rise-time
of 30 ns and a fall time of 45 µs. Constant fraction
discriminators connected to the different detectors were
used to trigger SADC.
In Fig. 2 the electronic chain used for digital pulse
shape acquisition of ( E,Fast) scatter plots is shown.
To perform Pulse Height Analysis (PHA) of the
signals coming from the telescope in order to
reconstruct the ( E,Fast) scatter plot, the full pulse
height (Maximum) of the signals from both Silicon and
CsI(Tl) has been used as “true” signal-value.
Fig. 2: Electronic chain used for digital pulse shape acquisition.
Each signal has been filtered digitally by means of a
simple triangular filter [10], using a symmetric triangle
with a time baseline of 11 samples (110 ns at 100
Msamples/s).
The use of post-trigger allowed for an accurate
baseline restoring of each pulse, before the computation
of pulse height and of Fast and Slow components.
Waveforms of 2048 consecutive ADC samples have
been collected at 10 ns time intervals and stored in the
SADC memory banks in wrap-around mode. For every
event the sample collection is stopped by using a post-
trigger. From this instant the pulse-form for each event
parameter ( E and Light Pulse) is reconstructed and
stored.
The samples before the beginning of the pulse have
been used to determine the baseline value. In our case,
baseline is defined as an average ADC value of these
samples located in the “baseline window” (~1µs
duration, positioned at the beginning of the waveform,
i.e. 100 samples from sample #100 to sample #200). In
the following we will no more mention filtering and
baseline subtraction, always done for the shown results.
Digital constant fraction timing was used to compute
the beginning of pulses and corresponds to the time at
which the pulse-form cross 10% of the full pulse height
relative to baseline.
A typical E vs. Maximum of Light Pulse (MLP)
scatter plot is shown in Fig. 3 for the reaction 40Ar + 12C
at 20 AMeV incident energy and "lab= 3°.
In the same figure the back-trace of the pulses (both
from Silicon and from CsI(Tl)) for different charges and
energies is shown. In this way, specially in case of
“debugging” of a multidetector, the digital pulse shape
acquisition is a powerful tool that allows for a full
control of the working mode of the array.
The particle-Id spectrum obtained by projecting the
properly linearized ( E,MLP) scatter plot on the E
axis is shown in Fig. 3b.
 Fig. 3 (a): (∆E,MLP) scatter plot for the 40Ar + 12C reaction. Examples of both Silicon and CsI(Tl) pulses for
different charges, back-traced from the point in the scatter plot, are also shown. (b) Particle-Id spectrum obtained
by projecting the properly linearized (∆E,MLP) scatter plot on the ∆E axis.

4 REFERENCES
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