Nuclear Counting with Nuclear Instrumentation Modules
Physics 470
Fall 2011
Purpose
Nuclear counting experiments, and indeed many other types of experiments, are
concerned with the acquisition, manipulation, and counting of short electrical pulses
from detectors, sensors, and transducers of various types. Other branches of science
which might utilize these techniques include electron spectroscopy in surface science,
X-ray detection in industry and medicine, and optical pulse detection in optics and
communications. This particular experiment will familiarize the student with basic pulse
techniques by using modular equipment, often called NIM bins and modules.
Method
Follow the procedure as listed in the following pages, entitled “Basic Identifications in
Electronic Measurement Systems.” This is an experiment from the ORTEC Applications
Note AN 34 “Experiments in Nuclear Science”, 2nd edition, published in July 1976 by
ORTEC, Inc. (or use the pdfs of the third edition). We have chosen to follow this
description because the list of equipment corresponds to the equipment in the
laboratory. Most of the modules are still useful, and they can be purchased in slightly
newer versions with very similar functionality. For your information and interest, a
newer version of the experiment, from the 3 rd edition of the ORTEC AN 34 manual, is
available on the web (see below), and you can see that the procedure is basically the
same. See also the datasheets for the various modules, 142, 480, 551, and 575A.
Read the introductory part of the experiment, then start the procedure in Exp. 1.1, and
do the three parts 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3 in order. Our actual setup may have different
module numbers, for example, the 485 amplifier may be replaced by a 575 amplifier,
and the 775 counter may be replaced by an 875 counter.
Record your data in your lab notebook and write a report
You should write down enough detail that you can repeat the experiment without
referring to this write-up. Write all your data in your lab notebook rather than on any of
these pages of instructions. Write a report using your lab notebook and these
handouts. This should go fairly quickly if you wrote enough in your notebook.
References
The newer ORTEC AN 34 manual (3rd edition, online) is at:
http://www.ortec-online.com/application-notes/an34/an34-content.htm
For ORTEC modular electronics; see: http://www.ortec-online.com/products.htm
Radiation detection and measurement, by Glenn F. Knoll, 3rd edition, (on reserve).