Performance of a simple method of particle identification via pulse rise time
discrimination is demonstrated for slow pulses from charge-sensitive
preamplifiers with rise times ranging from 10 ns to 500 ns. The method is based
on a comparison of the amplitudes of two pulses, derived from each raw
preamplifier pulse with two amplifiers with largely differing shaping times,
using a fast peak-sensing ADC. For the injected charges corresponding to energy
deposits in silicon detectors of a few tens of MeV, a rise time resolution of
the order of 1 ns can be achieved. The identification method is applicable in
particle experiments involving large-area silicon detectors, but is easily
adaptable to other detectors with a response corresponding to significantly
different pulse rise times for different particle species.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure