Development of a neutron tagger module using a digital pulse shape discrimination method

We developed a neutron tagger module using digital pulse shape discrimination method. The tail to total charge logic is implemented in the field programmable gate array (FPGA) that we can tag the neutron in real time and neutron recoil energy can be measured simultaneously. The internal trigger functions are implemented and tagged neutron signals by software setting, which can be sent out by the trigger output connector. All of these functions are implemented in the FPGA. Output data of tail and total integrated charge, and neutron flag can be directly transferred to the host computer by a 100 Mbps Ethernet port. We studied the performance of the neutron tagger module using BC523A liquid scintillator and ²³²Cf neutron source. The test results show good performance of the developed module.