Apparatus for reducing pulse pileup in an elemental analyzer measuring gamma rays arising from neutron capture in bulk substances

摘要

The active reduction of the number of analyzed events with pulse amplitudes which pileup has distorted improves measurement accuracy and response time in an apparatus for neutron-capture-based on-line elemental analysis of bulk substances. Within the apparatus, the analyzed bulk substance is exposed to neutrons, and neutron capture generates prompt gamma rays therefrom. A detector interacts with some of these gamma rays to produce electrical signals used to measure their energy spectrum by pulse-height analysis. Circuits associated with this pulse- height analysis also detect the pileup of the signals of two or more independent gamma rays using one or more of several techniques. These techniques include multiple outputs from a special amplifier- discriminator system, which has been optimized for low pulse-pair resolving time and may have adaptive thresholds, and the requirement that the relative amplitudes of the outputs of slow and fast amplifiers be consistent with a single event producing both outputs. Pulse-width measurements are also included in the pileup detection.