Microstrip gas chamber high-speed data acquisition system and method of

Abstract

An imaging microstrip gas chamber (MSGC) high-speed data acquisition system capable of processing at high speed a large number of output signals of an imaging microstrip gas chamber. The system includes discrimination circuits for binary conversion of signals from anode strips and back strips of a two-dimensional microstrip gas chamber; signal synchronizing circuits for converting binary asynchronous signals output from the discrimination circuits into clock-synchronized signals; data encoder circuits connected to the signal synchronizing circuits; an incident-particle hit judgment circuit connected to the data encoder circuits and operating such that when a plurality of adjacent signal lines receive signals at the same timing, a value corresponding to a signal line at the center of the adjacent signal lines is output, and when separated signal lines receive signals at the same timing, the signals are ignored; a storage device connected to the incident-particle hit judgment circuit and adapted to store, for each event, the vertical and horizontal coordinates of an incident particle, the timing of incidence of the particle, the degree of spreading of output signals, and the energy of the incident particle obtained from an overall pulse height; and a computer connected to the storage device.