Error minimization of sensor pulse signal delay-time measurements

Measurement of delay-time (arrival-time) of pulse signals from various sensors (optical detectors, radiation detectors, etc.) have important applications in many scientific and technical fields. The measurement chain contains the following parts: sensor (detector), electronic preamplifier of pulse signal from sensor, signal processing circuits, and timing discriminator. We analyze the influence of pulse amplitude and rise-time variations, noise effects and energy (charge) sensitivity of discriminator triggering on the over-all timing resolution for three types of discriminator. The ultimate goal in all measurements is to determine pulse arrival-time with minimum error, which depends on signal parameters as well as on discriminator circuit parameters.