Detector electronics
The pages below contain information on the data acquisition and readout electronics used in Medusa radiation detection systems. Over the past ten years, several different electronic sets have been used in our systems.
In very general terms, a detector system is made up of a scintillator crystal and a (classic or silicon) photomultiplier unit (PMT) coupled to a Multichannel analyzer (MCA). The MCA is then connected to a data logger that can be part of the sensor (newer systems) or be outside (older systems)
Up to about 2014, our sensor systems were equipped with a vMCA board. This board is a 512-channel analog multichannel board that communicates over RS232 to a data-logging computer that is outside the sensor. These boards are typically found on our systems like the older MS-4000s up to serial number 010.
From 2014 on, we started to use digital readout systems from GBS electronics. These were used in our MS-2000 systems numbered 001-007 and in the MS-4000's 011 and 012. After that, we moved to our in-house developed electronics (the mMCA V1 and V2).
A description of the specification of the Multi Channel Analyser currently used on the modern Medus spectrometer can be found on the MCA specifications page.
The pages below describe the electronics used in Medusa systems over the years.
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