CH Weekly Reports

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Revision as of 21:04, 17 October 2022 by Harpconn (talk | contribs) (→‎10/17/22)
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09/19/22

  • Investigated non-linearity of peak sensing ADC due to issues arising in energy calibrations and efficiency measurements.
  • Modified existing calibration code to use non-linear regression to account for ADC.
  • Sourced material needed for CaGaS Phase II setup.
  • Calculated ADC dead time for live-time correction to efficiency measurement count rates and calculated dead time per experiment.
  • Designed holder for Gd foils needed for CaGaS Phase II experiment. To be 3D printed and tested for tolerances.

09/26/22

  • Printed both parts of the Gd foil holder for CaGaS Phase II.
    • Parts fit together adequately considering they're 3D printed and not machined.
    • M3 bolts threaded through first part of the holder.
    • M3 nuts pressed into the second part of the holder.
    • Parts printed out of PETG plastic with low density infill (10%).
  • Edited rebinning code for energy calibrations for data sets collected with ADC to account for changes in calibration code.
    • Energy calibration script now uses 2nd order polynomial regression to account for nonlinearity of ADC
    • The coefficients from the regression are passed to another script to rebin ADC data from channel to energy, preserving bin count, but bin width will increase as a function of energy.
      • End goal is to pass coefficients into rebinning function and draw energy calibrated plot in the same script.
  • Designed Gd2O3 powder holder for CaGaS Phase II.
    • Have spray on clear coat to seal plastic after printing is complete in hopes that powder will not stick between printed layers when used.
  • Documented Gd holders in wiki with rendered images and a description of intended use.
  • Continued to research live time correction for HPGe count rates and think I have applied the correction correctly at the initial measurement level, which will be propagated through to efficiency calculations.
  • Researched and tested different integration methods for more accurate measurement of counts in energy peak to compare to Gaussian fit.
  • Created tentative list of committee members with major advisor for PhD proposal defense and future dissertation defense.

10/03/22

  • Sat in on 30 minute proposal defense presentation by another Ph.D. candidate.
  • Began the 3D print of Gd2O3 holder for CaGaS Phase II.
    • Both parts printed and fit together tightly. Need to be sealed for use with powder.
    • Updated wiki documentation with images of the holders.
  • Working with ISU Environmental Health & Safety to set up time to treat and coat lead bricks to build CaGaS Phase II setup.
    • Air monitoring and respirators are required per ISU EH&S safety protocols.
  • Designed and printed a holder for Cs137 calibration source for storage in lab (signed off with RSO) for easy point calibrations using HPGe.
  • Researched dead time adjustment in Practical Gamma-ray Spectrometry by Gordon Gilmore
    • Collected 50 data points for ADC gate width, read out controller trigger width, and the delay between end of gate and beginning of read trigger.
    • Found dead time per pulse which includes memory storage time, thanks to reading the aforementioned book.
  • Worked to re-plot and integrate Eu152 peaks, but source data file seems to be corrupted. Will collect new set of data on Monday (10/10/22) when I can access calibration sources.
    • Re-plotting is necessary for new integration with 2nd order polynomial binning and new live time correction.
    • Collecting a new Eu152 spectrum is needed before CaGaS Phase II for new energy calibration as NIM bin has been power cycled and spec-amp gain has shifted.

10/10/22

  • Moved extra lead for CaGaS Phase II from lead storage at ISU to lab for coating prior to use.
  • Coated 30 lead bricks for CaGaS Phase II setup.
  • Fixed energy calibration code thanks to input from a colleague.
    • Machine precision and how ROOT interprets bins was cause of the issue.
  • Designed tools to use to level and compact powder into the powder holder for use during CaGaS Phase II.
    • Designed new covers for powder holder to better accommodate for different thicknesses of powder.
  • Experimentally confirmed minimum dead and maximum bounds on dead time of data acquisition system per event after questions from colleague and plotted voltage traces for documentation.
  • Refit 152Eu energy peaks with gaussians + linear background and recalculated efficiencies using live time correction.
    • Finished replotting and calculating uncertainty in HPGe efficiency measurements to present next week, all calibration sources (152Eu, 137Cs, & 60Co).
  • Met with collaborators and discussed FY23 work scope.
    • Setup recurring meetings biweekly starting 10/19/22.
  • Contributed to Paul's SOW for FY23.

10/17/22

  • Uploaded new versions of efficiency measurement plots to wiki.

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