Digital spectrometer for coincidence measurement of Doppler broadening of positron annihilation radiation

High-resolution digital coincidence Doppler broadening spectrometer equipped with two high-purity Ge detectors and two-channel 12-bit fast digitizer was developed and tested in this work. Two configurations were compared: (i) semi-digital setup which uses active analogue shaping of detector pulses prior to digitization to improve signal-to-noise ratio, and (ii) pure-digital setup which samples detector pulses directly. Software procedure developed for analysis of sampled waveforms, i.e. precise determination of energy of detected photon and rejection of distorted pulses, is described. Performance of digital coincidence spectrometer was compared with traditional analogue setup connected to the same detectors. It was found that digital spectrometer enables to achieve better energy resolution than in traditional analogue setup. Moreover, in digital configuration one has better control over shape of the signal. This allows efficient elimination of undesired distorted or damaged waveforms and to obtain spectrum of better clarity. The superior parameters of new digital coincidence Doppler broadening spectrometer are demonstrated by benchmark measurements of well defined Fe and Al specimens and also by the detection of rare annihilation in flight events. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.