Cosmic ray angular distribution employing plastic scintillation detectors and flash-ADC/FPGA-based readout systems

Abstract

It is known that secondary cosmic rays are high energetic particles which are products of shower particles, when primary cosmic rays from outer space hit the atmosphere molecules. Many studies of cosmic rays show that cosmic flux depends on the depth of atmosphere. At ground level, most secondary cosmic rays are muons, a type of charged particle, and have angular dependence. The purpose of this article was to develop the telescope with two plastic scintillation detectors to investigate the angular distribution of cosmic rays at ground level. Directions of investigation were carried out vertical, 45-degree oblique and horizontal directions with respect to earth surface, approximately from North to South. Electronic readout system was developed from Flash Analog Digital Converter (Flash-ADC) of 8 bits-250Ms/sec, and Embedded Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA)-based trigger. LabVIEWTM interface was written for controlling trigger system and taking data. For each direction measurement, the deposited energy spectra in the scintillators were obtained. The interest of cosmic-ray events was analyzed for counting. Angular distribution was obtained quantitatively. The experiment has been done at University of Science-HCMC.

Design of a FPGA-based controller for power and period measurement in the start range of Dalat Nuclear Research Reactor

“…The start range was designed for monitoring the reactor power in the range from 4×10 -6 to 2×10 -1 % P nominal . In practice, the lowest power level is about 4×10 -5 % P nominal due to epithermal and fast photoneutrons, which are produced by the 9 Be(γ, n)2 4 He and 9 Be(n, 2n)2 4 He reactions, respectively, are significant in the reactor core, especially when the reactor operates frequently. Fig.…”

“…As usual, after 13 years of operation, many functional electronic modules of the CPS were out of products in the market for spare parts and replacement. Besides, taking into accounts on the advantage of the FPGA technology for design and construction of nuclear electronic equipment, nowadays fast integrated FPGA-based devices are widely developed for measurement, data storage and acquisition system in nuclear physics experiments and nuclear engineering, such as for radiation measurements with high resolution X-ray spectroscopy with pulse height analyzer [3], for readout systems of the cosmic ray angular distribution based on flash analog-to-digital converter using FPGA technology [4], and for nuclear data measurement by (n, γ) and (n, 2γ) reactions at horizontal experimental neutron beam ports of nuclear research reactor with high performance gamma spectrometers [5]. Considering the above-mentioned reasons and propensity, the main purpose of this work is to develop the new FPGA-based controller module which can be a spare-part or replacement for the BPM-107R controller when necessary.…”

Development of apparatus for mean-lifetime measurement of cosmic-ray muons using plastic scintillation detectors and FLASH-ADC/FPGA-based readout electronics

“…In Vietnam, at the VATLY laboratory in Hanoi, there have been several studies on cosmicray muons 4,5 . Our previous works include the study of the angular distribution of cosmic rays at ground level 6 and the cosmic-ray muon-induced background on a germanium detector through Geant4 simulation 7 . In experiment 6 , two plastic scintillation detectors were used to measure the angular distribution of cosmic rays, and high-tech Flash-ADC/FPGA-based technology was used for the readout electronics.…”

“…Our previous works include the study of the angular distribution of cosmic rays at ground level 6 and the cosmic-ray muon-induced background on a germanium detector through Geant4 simulation 7 . In experiment 6 , two plastic scintillation detectors were used to measure the angular distribution of cosmic rays, and high-tech Flash-ADC/FPGA-based technology was used for the readout electronics. Our previous publications [8][9][10] have also involved the use of the Flash-ADC/FPGA-based readout electronic for gamma spectra measurements and cosmic-ray determination.…”

Discrimination of cosmic-ray in scintillation region and light-guide for plastic scintillation detectors using 5GSPS readout system

“…Plastic scintillators exhibit very short response times and are extensively utilized for experiments where accurate measurements at very short time intervals (ns) are conducted [2]. Their applications are for cosmic-ray research [3], and anti-cosmic shielding of detectors to "guard" high-resolution detectors against background radiation (such as the low background gamma spectrometer) [4]. At an under-ground laboratory, the measurement of energy spectrum for cosmic-ray flux determination using two-coincidence plastic scintillation detectors with "traditional" electronic-readout system may include not only cosmic-ray of interest in scintillation region but also in light-guide region and gamma ray background.…”