DVD based electronic pulser

This paper describes the design, construction, and testing of a digital versatile disc (DVD) based electronic pulser system (DVDEPS). Such a device is used to generate pulse streams for simulation of both gamma and neutron detector systems. The DVDEPS reproduces a random pulse stream of a full high purity germanium (HPGe) spectrum as well as a digital pulse stream representing the output of a neutron multiplicity detector. The exchangeable DVD media contains over an hour of data for both detector systems and can contain an arbitrary gamma spectrum and neutron pulse stream. The data is written to the DVD using a desktop computer program from either actual or simulated spectra. The targeted use of the DVDEPS is authentication or validation of monitoring equipment for nonproliferation purposes, but it is also of general use whenever a complex data stream is required. The DVD based pulser combines the storage capacity and simplicity of DVD technology with commonly available electronic components to build a relatively inexpensive yet highly capable testing instrument.