Performance of a simple method of particle identification via pulse rise time discrimination is demonstrated for slow pulses from charge-sensitive preamplifiers with rise times ranging from 10 ns to 500 ns. The method is based on a comparison of the amplitudes of two pulses, derived from each raw preamplifier pulse with two amplifiers with largely differing shaping times, using a fast peak-sensing ADC. For the injected charges corresponding to energy deposits in silicon detectors of a few tens of MeV, a rise time resolution of the order of 1 ns can be achieved. The identification method is applicable in particle experiments involving large-area silicon detectors, but is easily adaptable to other detectors with a response corresponding to significantly different pulse rise times for different particle species.
@article{arxiv.0804.4696,
title = {A Simple Method for Rise-Time Discrimination of Slow Pulses from Charge-Sensitive Preamplifiers},
author = {Jan Tõke and Michael J. Quinlan and Wojtek Gawlikowicz and W. Udo Schröder},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0804.4696},
year = {2008}
}