A New Filter Concept Yielding Improved Resolution and Throughput in Radiation Detection Systems

We introduce a new filtering method capable of increasing measurement resolution and processed data throughput through a nonstandard baseline restoration technique. An overall optimization of the signal-to-noise ratio and of the processing efficiency is performed and new filters are obtained. The hardware implementation exploits the resources of a FPGA and is not significantly resource-hungrier than standard setups. The experiments confirm theoretical expectations. The obtained resolution is 1.8 keV on the 1.173 MeV peak: This result is an improvement with respect to the one achievable with the standard optimum filter in the same conditions by about a 10% factor; the data rate is improved too.