The MCA4 series is a family of USB interfaced, software controlled Multichannel Analyzers. The design is capable of converting incoming analog pulses (PHA mode) on up to 4 channels at virtually no event processing induced dead-time. PHA data is transferred via the USB 2.0 interface in list-mode at a max. rate of > 1 M events / sec on each input. Four 125MHz, 16-bit ADCs provide a 32k resolution for PHA mode.

In MCS mode the internal memory is used to accumulate spectra of up to 16M bins. An automatic sequential mode allows to acquire up to 65536 sequential spectra – each with a presettable number of sweeps – with no additional dead-time between each cycle or synchronized with external signal. The minimum dwell time is 30 ns for 1 input channel and 50 ns for 2 channels and can be set in steps of 10 ns up to 781 h. The maximum count rate is 400 MHz.

An 8 bit digital I/O port provides controlling external devices or to react on additional external signals. It can be used for tag bits that are sampled with 2.5 µsec.

The “GO-LINE” compatibility allows synchronized start and stop of the experiment across many measurement devices.

The 32-bit or 64-bit MPANT Windows Software is able to handle up to six MCA4 modules, providing up to 24 MCA channels. In-field upgrade options for adding features such as MCS mode, more MCA channels, 8 ns RTC time tagging, and multiparameter coincidences for 2 or 4 ADCs including Replay of list files.

The RTC option applies to each ADC channel separately. The RTC provides time stamps in the event data in units of 8 ns instead of the standard 1 msec. The RTC option is required for each channel that is used for multiparameter acquisition.