Nonlinearity Correction for X-Ray Detectors

Abstract

An expression has been developed whereby coincidence losses occurring in an x-ray spectrometer unit can be readily evaluated. Equivalent departures from linearity are given when the x-ray tube is operated at constant potential, full-wave, and half-wave rectified. A quantitative relationship is obtained between the apparent increase in the absorption factor (for a foil of a fixed thickness) at high counting rates and the peak operating voltage of the x-ray tube for a given element.

X-Ray Absorption and Emission

“…The old problem of coincidence losses is the subject of additional discussion (41,411,416,427) because of the very high counting rates achieved with advanced instrumentation. Bernstein and Canon (41) show that coincidence losses are directly related to counting rates and detector dead time and, more complexly, to excitation voltage of the element, x-ray tube voltage, and type of x-ray power supply.…”