I have several of the HP 5300 series A/B counter systems on hand. I use them extensively with PMTs. If you look on the fusor III bench you will see an ancient nixie tube based HP counter. I love nixies due to their wide viewing angle and high brightness. I use this with the signal conditioned speaker output of the Eberline Rem-Ball and PNC-1s. (Count rate is slow enough to where I miss no counts.) It would not work with a PMT and preamp due to the ultra-narrow pulse widths encountered. The 5300's do OK in this area though.
Ideally, the counter should detect rising edges with about 100 volts/usec or better. Most 30mhz counters will easily handle this.
The best scope to use is a digital storage type. I use the newer tek TDS series units. This are great for looking at and studying short term single events. The 60 mhz bottom of the line unit is adequate to look at anything out of a PMT for gross counting. In single event mode you will spent most of your time around 250 nanoseconds/div. On a non-storage o'scope you will just not be able to study the pulses at all due to their infrequency. (with a true neutron scintillator.)
Richard Hull
Created on Wednesday, April 11, 2001 3:04 PM EDT by Richard Hull