Vacuum

Chamber along
with the
detector
Pre-Amplified
Output Signal of Detector
12 V DC
Voltage

0-60V DC PreAmp Power

Supply

Cathode
Ray
Oscillosco
Spectroscopic
Amplifier

Cathode
Ray
Oscillosco
Multi
Channel
Analyzer

12V DC
POWER

VACUUM
CHAMBER

DETECT

0-60V DC
PRE-AMP
POWER

SPECTROSC
OPIC
AMPLIFIER

MULTI
CHANNEL
ANALYZER

CATHODE
RAY

CATHODE
RAY

Problems

Power Supply
We have encountered few problems regarding the power supply of the
detector ,In the specification of the detector it was given that the detector
power supply should be with in 6-12V DC .So as described we applied 6V DC
through a prebuilt variable power supply but the pre-amplified signal from

the detector was very poor as a result we started increasing the power
supply gradually to 9V then 12V.After increasing the power supply the preamplified signal quality has increased but still was not convincing. The Preamplified Signal after application of 12V DC supply from detector with Cs-137
as source has been given below

After this failure we decided to apply 9V power supply available in the NIM
BIN , but still the pre-amplified signal was not what we are expecting. Then
we started analyzing the problem and found that both the power supply that
we were using have some noise and some AC ripples as result the charge
collection in the detector was very poor and that is why we are not getting
desired pre-amplified signal from the detector .
After analyzing the problem we came to the conclusion that we need a pure
DC Voltage supply and we decided to use a 9V battery as a constant DC
power source. And the result after that drastically improved . The Preamplified Signal after application of 9V DC supply from the battery with Cs137 as source has been given below

Capacitor Problem
One of the major problems we encountered during this testing was related to
selection of the capacitor which has to be connected in series with the output
signal of the detector to eliminate the offset. In the specification sheet It was
advised to use dielectric type capacitor in the range of 1 microfarad to 100

microfarad .So as far the specification sheet we used 100 microfarad

dielectric type capacitor but the output of the detector was giving large
offset at first but after few minute we noticed that the offset was coming
down very slowly. It was so slow that even after one hour the offset was still
not zero. From this problem it was clear that due to high value of capacitance
the capacitor is taking long time to charge and discharge , so we decided to
go for low value of capacitance and we selected 10 microfarad dielectric type
capacitor . Using 10 microfarad capacitor solved the problem of offset but it
raised another problem .The new problem was that the detector output was
having high noise, the noise was so high that was in the range of 25mV .It
was impossible to work with high noise as it was suppressing the actual
signal of the detector so it was necessary to filter out this noise. After
analyzing the problem we can to the conclusion that due to low value of
capacitance the charging and discharging time of the capacitor was low as a
result the offset problem was eliminated but low capacitance was not able to
filter out the noise. So we need to choose a capacitance that is not so high
that it will create offset problem and also not so low that it will create noise
related problem or the other solution can be using a capacitor type that the
better filtering capability than dielectric type capacitor .we came up with two
solution that is to used 57 microfarad dielectric type capacitor or to use 10
microfarad tantalum type capacitor.

Spectroscopy Amplifier
The output of the detector that is the pre-amplified signal of the detector
has to be amplified before it is feed to the Multi Channel Analyzer because
the output of the detector is very low and cannot be recognized by the Multi

Channel Analyzer. The amplifier we are using here is ORTEC model 672 .

It is a high performance, energy spectroscopy amplifier is ideally suited for

use with germanium, Si(Li), and silicon chargedparticle detectors. It can also
be used with scintillation detectors and proportional counters. The Model 672
input accepts either positive or negative polarity signals from a detector
preamplifier and provides a positive 0 to 10-V output signal suitable for use
with single or multichannel pulse-height analyzers. Its gain is continuously
variable from 2.5 to 1500.

The Automatic Pole-Zero Adjustment feature significantly simplifies the

tuning of the amplifier to compensate for the decay time of the preamplifier

pulse. This minimizes the operator skill and effort needed to achieve good
energy resolution and peak position stability at moderate to high counting
rates.When changing time constants or detectors, an accurate pole-zero (PZ)
adjustment is achieved by simply pushing the AUTO PZ button and waiting a
few seconds for the AUTO PZ BUSY LED to turn off. No oscilloscope is
required for this procedure. The AUTO PZ memory is protected against power
failures.
Choice of triangular and Gaussian filters effectively doubles the time
constants available for optimum resolution .Automatic noise discriminators
on both the pile-up rejecter and the
Baseline restorer eliminates all screwdriver adjustments. Automatic baseline
restorer rate for superior performance at both low and high counting rates
.Differential input for reduction of ground loop noise. Automatically
compensates for reset recovery with transistor-reset
Preamplifiers.
Settings we used during this experiment for this detector
FINE GAIN :
COARSE GAIN:
UNIPOLAR PULSE SHAPE: GAUSSIAN
SHAPING TIME:
POLE ZERO ADJUSTMENT: AUTO
INPUT:
BAL(Differential Input Gain Balance):

Problem with Alpha Particle Detection

While we are testing the detector for Gamma radiation with Cesium-137 as
a source it was working properly after rectifying the earlier problem, but
when we started testing the detector for Alpha radiation with Amnesium-241
as a source we were getting very low count rate for the source though we
have taken all the necessary pre-caution like keeping the source and the
detector in a vacuum chamber so that the alpha particles from the source
could arrive at the detector surface and do not get attenuated in the air
because Alpha particles gets attenuated in the air with in few millimeter. And
even we kept the detector in dark room so that no light arrives at the
detector surface to provide proper light insulation.
After all this pre-cautionary measures the count rate was still very low
compared to the background noise. Then we observed that the front side of
the detector is having a black thin plastic cover but we were still not
convinced whether to peel off this plastic cover or not because in the
specification sheet it was mentioned that the detector had a 1-2 Micron
Aluminized Mylar to provide the detector light insulation and that black thin
cover could have been the Mylar. If we peel off that cover that cover then
detector could get damaged .
So we contacted the detector company to know what to do in this matter
and then they informed that the black plastic cover was there to protect the
Mylar while it was getting shipped from the company and we can peel off
that cover if it is necessary for the testing. After that we came to the
conclusion that the plastic cover was blocking most of the Alpha particle
thats why we were getting very low count rate .
As advised by the detector company after peeling off the plastic cover the
count rate increased drastically. The picture of the detector before and after
the peeling off is given below:

Testing of the Detector for Gamma Radiation

using CESIUM-137 as Source

Testing of the Detector for Alpha Radiation using

Am-241 as Source