https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06402-0
Regular Article
New data acquisition system for Tohoku micro-beamline system
1
Department of Quantum Science and Energy Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan
2
Clear Pulse Co., Ltd, Tokyo, Japan
Received:
31
December
2024
Accepted:
5
May
2025
Published online:
4
June
2025
The Tohoku University has two micro-beamline systems: MB-I and MB-II, where various ion beam application experiments such as micro-particle-induced X-ray emission (µ-PIXE) analysis, off-axis scattering transmission ion microscopy (off-axis STIM), and Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) analysis are performed (Matsuyama in Int J PIXE 24:67–75, 2014, Matsuyama in Nucl Instrum Methods Phys Res B 348:123–126, 2015). In these ion beam experiments, the signals from several detectors, such as a lithium-drifted silicon detector, germanium detector, and a passivated ion-implanted planar silicon detector, were amplified and waveform-shaped before being digitally converted by an ADC and stored as list data. With the increasing accuracy of analysis in ion beam analysis, there is an increasing need for multimodal analysis, which combines different types of information from multiple detectors. For example, in the analysis of biological samples of non-uniform thickness, RBS and off-axis STIM data can be measured in addition to the usual µ-PIXE data to simultaneously measure sample damage and thickness information and improve the accuracy of the analysis. In such multimodal high-precision measurements, the number of detectors increases. The increase in the number of detectors also requires a data acquisition system that can withstand multi-channel and high rates. Therefore, a new high-speed, multi-channel data acquisition system incorporating a digital signal processor (DSP) was developed. The use of a DSP allows the pre-amplification and waveform shaping circuits to be formed inside the DSP, making it possible to construct a compact, low-cost, multi-channel circuit. It can also store data for each signal waveform at a sampling rate of 100 MS/s. Integral gating and timing analysis can then be performed offline on the accumulated waveforms. Furthermore, by configuring the DSP section to take data as digital inputs and outputs, the system can be easily integrated into accompanying systems such as the CompactRIO beam scanner in our laboratory, making it suitable for actual analysis of plant samples and the like.
© The Author(s) 2025
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