DIGITAL RISETIME DISCRIMINATION FOR PEAK ENHANCEMENT IN GAS PROPORTIONAL SCINTILLATION-COUNTER X-RAY-FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS

A digital pulse processing technique aas developed for a gas proportio nal scintillation counter to improve the detector performance for ener gy-dispersive x-ray spectrometric applications. The technique uses a d igital pulse-height analyser to access simultaneously the rise time an d peak amplitude of each individual pulse. Pulses from x-ray interacti ons occurring in the scintillation region and near the detector dead r egions, Both contributing to the spectral background, are rejected by digital pule risetime discrimination. ban the basis of the digitally m easured risetime, the x-rag pulse-height distribution is improved thro ugh peak enhancement and background reduction. Results concerning x-sa y fluorescence spectra are presented showing an improvement in the lim it of detection fag a factor of two. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Lt d.