Pulse processing routines for neutron time-of-flight data

Abstract

A pulse shape analysis framework is described, which was developed for n_TOF-Phase3, the third phase in the operation of the n_TOF facility at CERN. The most notable feature of this new framework is the adoption of generic pulse shape analysis routines, characterized by a minimal number of explicit assumptions about the nature of pulses. The aim of these routines is to be applicable to a wide variety of detectors, thus facilitating the introduction of the new detectors or types of detectors into the analysis framework. The operational details of the routines are suited to the specific requirements of particular detectors by adjusting the set of external input parameters. Pulse recognition, baseline calculation and the pulse shape fitting procedure are described. Special emphasis is put on their computational efficiency, since the most basic implementations of these conceptually simple methods are often computationally inefficient.