Particle identification with time-of-flight and pulse-shape discrimination in neutron-transmutation-doped silicon detectors

Abstract

A method for the identification of energetic charged particles has been investigated based on the employment of pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) in a silicon detector in addition to conventional time-of-flight (ToF) techniques. The method makes use of the fact that, at fixed energy, the particle's velocity, or ToF, is a measure of the particle's mass A while the time structure of the current pulse in a silicon energy detector, used as the ToF stop, permits identification of nuclear charges Z. In the measurements presented here, ToF and PSD methods were applied simultaneously. We used micro-channel plate (MCP) detectors as fast time pick-offs and surface-barrier (SB) n-type Si detectors made from homogeneously neutron-transmutation-doped (n-TD) silicon. As the particles, products from the reactions of a 400 MeV 20Ne beam impinging on 12C, 27Al and 208Pb targets were employed. With using fast current-sensitive pre-amplifiers for the 250 and 800 μ m SB detectors a major progress in particle identification with respect to both, mass A and charge Z was achieved. In addition, using a stack of two closely mounted n-TD SB detectors, a timing measurement between the two detectors permitted to study PSD in the rear detector with the time trigger derived from the foremost one. Finally, the internal PSD method was implemented which determines pulse rise-time in single detectors from analyzing differentiated preamplifier timing signals.