Experimental investigation of the ADC sampling rate effect on the digital gamma spectrometry

Gamma spectrometer is not available in many laboratories because it is very expensive. Analog to digital converter ADC is the basic component of digital gamma spectrometers. The sampling rate of the ADC plays an important role in determining the performance and the cost of the gamma spectrometers. This paper investigates experimentally the ADC's sampling rate effect on the performance of the gamma spectroscopy. The conducted experiment started by sampling a real pre-amplifier output. Then, the acquired samples have been processed at different sampling rates to build the dedicated gamma spectrums. During the processing of the sampled signals, three different digital filters have been tested to distinguish their effect on the energy resolution when the sampling rate is reduced. The results of this experimental investigation will help later in proposing new low-cost and efficient gamma spectrometer prototypes.