Improvement of energy resolution in Geiger-mode APD arrays using curve-fitting of signal decay

Improvement of energy resolution in Geiger-mode APD arrays using curve-fitting of signal decay

I. Weinberg, P. Y. Stepanov, A. S. Weinberg, P. Abshire, and M. Dandin, “Improvement of energy resolution in Geiger-mode APD arrays using curve-fitting of signal decay,” in 2008 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium (IEEE NSS), 2008, pp. 1416–1418. [Online Article]
Improvement of energy resolution in Geiger-mode APD arrays using curve-fitting of signal decay

A method is presented to improve the energy resolution of scintillators read out with Geiger-mode avalanche photodiode arrays. The method employs digital signal processing, in which individual decay curves for gamma-ray detection events are digitized and then fitted to analytical functions whose amplitude provides energy information. Simulation studies suggest that after-pulses represent the largest source of energy resolution loss, which can be improved with curve-fitting. An experimental measurement confirmed that energy resolution could be improved with least-square curve-fits to a simple exponential model.