Developing of a Virtual MCA to Acquire a Radiation Spectrum

Abstract

A virtual MCA (Multichannel Analyzer) was developed via a software in the computerenvironment to display a spectrum for radiation detection experiments. A pulse generator thatsubstitutes for a particle detector was used to supply the signals to be analyzed in the MCA. Thepulses from the generator were analyzed by a virtual MCA and a real MCA. Channel numbersand the number of counts in these channels, and the total counts obtained from the virtual MCAand the real MCA were compared with each other. For comparing of the number of counts, datawere accumulated in different acquisition times. After comparison of the results, it wasobserved that the virtual MCA was quite successful as well as a real MCA. It was concludedfrom the introduced work that the developed virtual MCA would be able to use in a radiationdetection system like a real one.