Advanced Direct Digital Synthesis Generator Design for Transuranic Nuclide Alpha Spectrometry Pulses

Abstract

Alpha energy spectrum measurement has been employed in the nuclear waste disposal of transuranic nuclides (such as 239Pu and 241Am), supervision, and disposal process. The alpha spectrum is made up of alpha particles, which have a fast-moving helium nucleus and an energy of 4–8 MeV with weak penetration ability. Removing alpha particles from radioactive nuclides is an important scientific issue. In this study, a transuranic nuclide alpha particle pulse generator that produces simulated alpha particle pulses similar to real particles was designed. Field programmable gate array (FPGA) was adopted as its core chip and we obtained the digital pulse waveform using software tracing points while simulating real alpha particles by random numbers. Accordingly, the alpha energy spectrum of a radioactive source 241Am was obtained using a passivated ion-implanted planar silicon (PIPS) detector. Afterward, the alpha particle was extracted from the energy spectrum and was then compared to the alpha particle pulse of the two methods, deriving a result. Here, both groupings of particle pulse waveforms were found to be very similar, and the periodic error of the particle was observed to be less than 1%. Furthermore, the amplitude and time interval of the particle were apparently similar to the actual spectrometry pulse.