NEW METHOD FOR THE CENTROID-SHIFT ANALYSIS OF PICOSECOND LIFETIME MEASUREMENTS USING BAF2 SCINTILLATORS

A new method of analyzing delayed coincidence spectra has been developed. The values of centroid shift deduced from the data obtained with BaF2 scintillators are usually mixtures of many lifetimes because of their poor energy resolution. By a systematic analysis of the components of the mixtures, the relation of the measured centroid shifts and the lifetimes has been reduced to a set of simultaneous linear equations, and the lifetimes are obtained as their solutions. A test measurement using the decay of Eu-152 has proved that this method is very efficient even in the case of nuclei of which the decay schemes are very complex. The values of the half-life in the picosecond region, thus determined, are in good agreement with those determined with other techniques.