Evaluating a Digital Gamma-ray Spectrometer (DSPec50) System and Comparison with the Standard Nuclear Instrumentation Method (NIM) System

Nuclear radiation measurements for the nuclear safeguard requires the best spectrometer systems possible with an excellent resolution and stability. In the contemporary field of radiation detection, digital signal processing technique has been exploited extensively in many applications, replacing the conventional analog signal processing systems. Radiological Sciences Laboratory (RSL) in Sejong University has recently acquired a new digital gamma-ray spectrometer system, DSPec50 from ORTEC. In this paper, we will evaluate the pulse processing performance of DSPec50 by investigating energy resolutions of the gamma-ray spectra depending on the pulse shaping parameters and by comparing it with the performance of the standard nuclear instrumentation method (NIM) systems based on analog pulse shaping technique. We have obtained a few results showing better performance by using digital spectroscopy system. A new digital gamma-ray spectroscopy system was evaluated. The energy resolution with DSPec50 has been shown better than NIM system. The counts of peak obtained with DSPec50 is clearly superior to that obtained with the NIM system. With benefits in both resolution and counts, and with the ability to fine tune and flattop parameters to achieve the optimal results, the conclusion is that the DSPec50 performs better than the standard NIM system