Status at Harwell of Opto-Electronic and Time-Variant Signal Processing for High Performance Nuclear Spectrometry with Semiconductor Detectors

A review of the advantages and problems associated with these signal processing methods is followed by a summary of recent developments at Harwell. A new spectrometry system for use with solid state charged particle and gamma ray detectors which can handle input pulse rates in excess of 106 per second with a high throughput rate and almost complete insensitivity to detector charge collection time will be described. The paper will discuss the benefits obtained in various applications and the remaining limitations.