Holistic digital gamma-ray spectroscopy methods and instrumentation for high-throughput high-resolution applications

1. A method of real-time adaptive digital pulse signal processing for high count rate gamma-ray spectroscopy applications, the method comprising:

receiving a preamplifier signal at a pulse deconvolver, the preamplifier signal including resolution deterioration resulting from pulse pile-up;

generating a deconvoluted signal, by the pulse deconvolver, from the preamplifier signal, the deconvoluted signal having less resolution deterioration as compared to the received preamplifier signal; and

shaping of the deconvoluted signal by a trapezoid filter, the shaping comprising adjusting a shaping parameter of the trapezoid filter for an incoming signal based on a time separation from a subsequent incoming signal.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising processing the preamplifier signals at a rate of approximately 10 6 counts/second.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using a reconfigurable field programmable gate array (FPGA) for implementing one or more of the receiving, the generating, and the shaping.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving the preamplifier signal from a high purity germanium (HPGe) detector.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising converting a current pulse associated with the preamplifier signal to a voltage pulse by a resistive feedback (RC) preamplifier or a transistor reset preamplifier (TRP).

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the resistive feedback (RC) preamplifier or the transistor reset preamplifier (TRP) forms part of the high purity Germanium (HPGe) detector.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the preamplifier signal comprises a low-amplitude, short-duration current pulse received from a high purity germanium (HPGe) detector.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising processing the deconvoluted signal by one or more of a timing filter, a baseline restorer, and a pile-up rejecter.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pulse deconvolver comprises a linear time-invariant system.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the receiving, the generating, and the shaping occur in real-time.

11. The method of claim 1 , further comprising reconstructing an original detector signal from the preamplifier signal.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the deconvoluted signal comprises reducing a baseline shift associated with the received preamplifier signal.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising restoring noise in the received preamplifier signal with a Savitzy-Golay (S-G) filter.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising eliminating a pulse undershoot in the received preamplifier signal with a digital pole-zero cancellation algorithm.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising shortening a long decay in the received preamplifier signal with a digital pole-zero cancellation algorithm.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a height of the deconvoluted signal with an optimum signal to noise ratio prior to the shaping.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pulse deconvolver comprises an algorithm.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying algorithms for performing one or more of digital pole-zero cancellation, Savitzy-Golay (S-G) filtering, and exponential signal generation.

19. The method of claim 1 , wherein the trapezoid filter comprises a digital trapezoid pulse-shaping algorithm.

20. The method of claim 19 , further comprising:

selecting a rise time of the trapezoid shaping filter for the deconvoluted signal in real-time, by the digital trapezoid pulse-shaping algorithm, based on pulse-to-pulse timing, and

adjusting a flattop of the trapezoid filter for the deconvoluted signal, by the digital trapezoid pulse-shaping algorithm, to eliminate a ballistic deficit.