Pulse-shape discrimination with CdWO4 crystal scintillators

The properties of light emission from a CdWO4 crystal scintillator were investigated with different kinds of sources (α’s, protons, cosmic muons and γ’s). At least three components of scintillation signal were recognized with decay time of ≈1, 6 and 14 μs. By using the dependence of the relative amplitudes of these components on the nature of incoming radiation, the pulse-shape discrimination method based on the optimal digital filter was developed to process the scintillation pulses from the CdWO4 crystal. The clear discrimination between γ-rays and α-particles was achieved, that permits the use of this technique in double-β-decay research and in other low-background measurements.