A two-dimensional multi-detector multichannel scaler for double modulation time-of-flight data acquisition

摘要

A novel two-dimensional multichannel scaler is described, providing an inexpensive method for recording double modulated time-of-flight spectra generated by a 16-element multi-detector array. The design uses a hardware first stage implemented with programmable logic and a software second stage, running on a digital signal processing board. The hardware stage can count at a peak event rate of 20 MHz with a time resolution (minimum bin width) of 50 ns. The maximum sustained event rate is determined by the speed of the software processing. The flexibility of the design makes it suitable for a wide range of applications in which counts are recorded as a function of two variables.