Time-to-digital converter for measuring time interval between events e.g. in nuclear physics determines coincidence points using vernier interpolation and correlation

摘要

A signal stop coincidence point (11) loads the contents of a main counter (8) and the contents of a stop counter (10) in a stop arithmetic unit (4). The latter calculates a stop value (3) from these two counter states by subtracting the stop counter value (9) from the main counter value (7) and multiplying the result by a constant. The difference between another constant and the stop counter value (9) is added to this result. A final result (1) of the measured time interval between the start event (30) and the stop event (19) is produced by subtracting the start value (5) from the stop value (3) using a subtractor (2).