Developing of a Virtual MCA to Acquire a Radiation Spectrum

Abstract

A virtual MCA (Multichannel Analyzer) was developed via a software in the computer environment to display a spectrum for radiation detection experiments. A pulse generator that substitutes for a particle detector was used to supply the signals to be analyzed in the MCA. The pulses from the generator were analyzed by a virtual MCA and a real MCA. Channel numbers and the number of counts in these channels, and the total counts obtained from the virtual MCA and the real MCA were compared with each other. For comparing of the number of counts, data were accumulated in different acquisition times. After comparison of the results, it was observed that the virtual MCA was quite successful as well as a real MCA. It was concluded from the introduced work that the developed virtual MCA would be able to use in a radiation detection system like a real one.

Keywords

• Virtual MCA
• Real MCA
• Pulse processing

Radyasyon Spektrumu Elde Etmek için Bir Sanal MCA Geliştirilmesi

Öz

Radyasyon dedeksiyon deneyleri için bir spektrumu görüntülemek amacıyla bilgisayar ortamında yazılım vasıtasıyla bir sanal MCA (Çok Kanallı Analizör) geliştirilmiştir. MCA’da analiz edilecek sinyalleri sağlamak için parçacık dedektörü yerine kullanılabilen bir puls jeneratöründen yararlanılmıştır. Jeneratörden gelen pulslar sanal MCA ve gerçek MCA tarafından analiz edilmiştir. Sanal MCA’dan ve gerçek MCA’dan elde edilen kanal numaraları, bu kanal numaralarına karşılık gelen sayım sayıları ve toplam sayımlar birbirleriyle karşılaştırılmıştır. Sayım sayılarını karşılaştırmak için de veriler farklı sayım sürelerinde alınmıştır. Sonuçların karşılaştırmasından sonra sanal MCA’nın, gerçek bir MCA kadar başarılı olduğu gözlenmiştir. Bu çalışmada geliştirilen sanal MCA’nın, tıpkı gerçeği gibi radyasyon dedeksiyon sisteminde kullanılabileceği sonucuna varılmıştır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Sanal MCA
• Gerçek MCA
• Puls işleme

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