An electronic clock for correlated noise corrections

An inexpensive and portable approach to measure the time an experimental event occurs as measured by a specific electronic clock is presented. The clock resets in active synchronization with the experimental AC-power cycle. This allows an efficient and complete correction for correlated noise contributions to pulse area and time measurements of detector channels equipped with PhotoMultiplier Tubes. The electronic board that was developed will be described. The performance for the treatment of correlated noise in experimental data taken at the BNL-AGS facility, and analyses of spectral decompositions of this noise, will also be described.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Nucl Inst Methods Section A (8/25/99