Readout electronics for thermal neutron detector array

To acquire the output signals and process the data collected via the 32 channels of 16 thermal neutron detectors in a thermal neutron detector array in an extensive air shower (EAS), a wide-dynamic-range (WDR) signal acquisition circuit has been designed that includes front-end analog circuits and analog-to-digital conversion circuits. In addition, case selections of shower events are performed using a field-programmable gate array (FPGA). Test results show that the circuit can collect the signals generated by the accumulated electrons up to 2000 mV and the signals generated by the thermal neutrons down to 5 mV. The peak-to-peak amplitude of the circuit noise is less than 10 mV. The overall test results meet the circuit design requirements.