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In this article we present a method of characterizing scintillating materials by digitization of each individual scintillation pulse followed by digital signal processing. With this technique it is possible to measure the pulse shape and the energy of an absorbed gamma photon on an event-by-event basis. In contrast to time-correlated single photon counting technique, the digital approach provides a faster measurement, an active noise suppression, and enables characterization of scintillation pulses simultaneously in two domains: time and energy. We applied this method to study the pulse shape change of a CsI(Tl) scintillator with energy of gamma excitation. We confirmed previously published results and revealed new details of the phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fully digital, prototype data acquisition system upgrade for the TOFOR neutron time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at the JET experimental fusion reactor in Culham, England, has been constructed. This upgrade, TOFu (Time-of-Flight upgrade), enables digitization of associated time and energy deposition information from the TOFOR scintillator detectors, facilitating discrimination of spectral background due to unrelated neutron events based on kinematic considerations. In this publication, a kinematic background discrimination method is presented using synthetic data and validated with experimental results. It is found that an improvement in signal-to-background ratio of 500% in certain spectral regions is possible with the new DAQ system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]