A Method for Accurate and Precise Pulse Arrival Time Estimation: A Case Study on High-Energy Particle Detectors

Advancements in modern electronics have enabled the sampling of signals with higher resolution, facilitating the application of new techniques for the determination of pulse arrival times at detectors. In this article, we introduce a method for accurate and precise pulse arrival time estimation. This method is immune to offset and slow background variations and pulse pile-up effects, requiring a single parameter. The validation is performed through simulations and systematic comparisons with traditional methods using synthetic pulses and experimental data collected from a particle physics detector. The presented results demonstrated superior accuracy and precision of the proposed method compared to widely used constant fraction discrimination and leading-edge discrimination methods. Moreover, this method is suitable for hardware implementation and can be applied to a wide range of pulse types across various experimental contexts, making it a versatile tool for arrival time estimation in diverse applications.