Fast x-ray detector system with simultaneous measurement of timing and energy for a single photon

T Masuda; S Okubo; H Hara; T Hiraki; S Kitao; Y Miyamoto; K Okai; R Ozaki; N Sasao; M Seto; S Uetake; A Yamaguchi; Y Yoda; A Yoshimi; K Yoshimura

doi:10.1063/1.4989405

Fast x-ray detector system with simultaneous measurement of timing and energy for a single photon

Rev Sci Instrum. 2017 Jun;88(6):063105. doi: 10.1063/1.4989405.

Authors

T Masuda¹, S Okubo², H Hara¹, T Hiraki¹, S Kitao³, Y Miyamoto¹, K Okai², R Ozaki², N Sasao¹, M Seto³, S Uetake¹, A Yamaguchi⁴, Y Yoda⁵, A Yoshimi¹, K Yoshimura¹

Affiliations

¹ Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Science, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan.
² Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8530, Japan.
³ Research Reactor Institute, Kyoto University, Osaka 590-0494, Japan.
⁴ Quantum Metrology Laboratory, RIKEN, Saitama 351-0198, Japan.
⁵ Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute, Hyogo 679-5198, Japan.

PMID: 28667968
DOI: 10.1063/1.4989405

Abstract

We developed a fast X-ray detector system for nuclear resonant scattering (NRS) experiments. Our system employs silicon avalanche photo-diode (Si-APD) as a fast X-ray sensor. The system is able to acquire both timing and energy of a single X-ray photon simultaneously in a high rate condition, 10⁶ counts per second for one Si-APD. The performance of the system was investigated in SPring-8, a synchrotron radiation facility in Japan. Good time resolution of 120 ps (FWHM) was achieved with a slight tail distribution in the time spectrum by a level of 10^-9 at 1 ns apart from the peak. Using this system, we successfully observed the NRS from the 26.27-keV level of mercury-201, which has a half-life of 630(50) ps. We also demonstrated the reduction of background events caused by radioactive decays in a radioactive sample by discriminating photon energy.