Data acquisition for the Combined Ion and Neutron Spectrometer (CINS)

The CINS (Combined Ion and Neutron Spectrometer) consists of three detector systems: a boron-loaded plastic scintillator for medium energy neutrons, a silicon detector system for high-energy neutrons, and a charged particle stack containing both silicon detectors and scintillators. A readout system built for the charged particle stack is described here. The stack must be able to detect particles over a wide range of charge and energy. It contains 7 detectors, including 4 silicon detectors that each have two output paths. The readout must have a large usable dynamic range and must be able to handle the relatively high event rates that occur when the stack is placed in an accelerator beam. The data acquisition system detects events (that is, compares incoming signals to user-supplied trigger definitions), proceeds to capture waveform data from the preamplifiers, and saves the data to a hard drive. Although only used with the charged particle stack to date, the system can also be used with the other elements of CINS.