Magnetic Recorder for Nuclear Pulses

Abstract

A simple reliable process is described for recording the amplitudes of individual pulses on magnetic tape. This enables the pulse analysis to be performed after the experiment, and under optimum conditions. Low counting rates may be recorded with the tape moving slowly, and then speeded up on playback, so that, for example, a twenty‐four hour run may occupy only seven minutes analyzer time. The recording process is strictly linear over a range of signal/rms noise of up to 300/1. A maximum rate of 4000 pps may be recorded. The resolution varies with pulse amplitude, but, over the upper two‐thirds of the linear range the relative spread assumes a very nearly constant value of about 3%. A further development is described in which gated time coincident pulses are recorded simultaneously on twin tracks of the same tape. In data gathering power this system is better than an array of thirty conventional thirty channel pulse analyzers. It may also be applied to the simultaneous recording for separate analysis of the outputs of up to about ten independent detectors.