Medium-Distance, Low Jitter Fiber-Optic Transmission of Timing Signals in Nuclear Instrumentation

摘要

The performance of fiber optic links for the transmission of fast NIM-standard signals was studied. Temperature, pulse rate, and radiation damage effects were investigated. The links are part of the readout electronics of a position encoded X-ray detector. Tests show that fast timing signals can be transmitted over distances of at least 100m with very little jitter (<100ps). The effects of drastically changing experimental conditions such as temperature (-10 to +70C) and pulse rate (102 to 7.105/sec) can be eliminated by differential measurements (double-fiber link) or recalibration. Moderate loss of optical power 50%) due to radiation damage can also be tolerated. The fiber optic links do not significantly degrade spatial resolution whatever the photon rates and circuit temperature may be. (ERA citation 14:006367)