Eur. Phys. J. A (2014) 50: 75
https://doi.org/10.1140/epja/i2014-14075-0

Special Article - Tools for Experiment and Theory

Design and commissioning of a timestamp-based data acquisition system for the DRAGON recoil mass separator

¹ TRIUMF, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 2A3, Canada
² Department of Physics, University of York, Heslington, York, YO10 5DD, UK
³ Department of Physics, Colorado School of Mines, 1523 Illinois Street, Golden, CO, 80401, USA

^* e-mail: gchristian@triumf.ca

Received: 20 February 2014
Revised: 13 March 2014
Accepted: 15 March 2014
Published online: 18 April 2014

Abstract

The DRAGON recoil mass separator at TRIUMF exists to study radiative proton and alpha capture reactions, which are important in a variety of astrophysical scenarios. DRAGON experiments require a data acquisition system that can be triggered on either reaction product (γ-ray or heavy ion), with the additional requirement of being able to promptly recognize coincidence events in an online environment. To this end, we have designed and implemented a new data acquisition system for DRAGON, which consists of two independently triggered readouts. Events from both systems are recorded with timestamps from a 20 MHz clock that are used to tag coincidences in the earliest possible stage of the data analysis. Here we report on the design, implementation, and commissioning of the new DRAGON data acquisition system, including the hardware, trigger logic, coincidence reconstruction algorithm, and live time considerations. We also discuss the results of an experiment commissioning the new system, which measured the strength of the E _c.m. = 1113 keV resonance in the ²⁰ Ne(p, γ)²¹ Na radiative proton capture reaction.