Journal of Applied Crystallography

Volume 27, Part 2 (April 1994)

research papers

J. Appl. Cryst. (1994). 27, 159-163 [ doi:10.1107/S0021889893014141 ]

High-resolution diffraction at synchrotron sources: correction for counting losses

C. S. G. Cousins

Abstract: The operating schedules of synchrotron sources encourage relatively rapid data collection. Consequently, very high count rates may be met in powder diffraction experiments and high-resolution single-crystal studies. A rigorous treatment of the losses due to pulse pile-up is given, as well as a discussion of possible losses due to windowing. The code for a simple correction algorithm is provided and used to illustrate the effect of losses on the intensities of two of the reflections in the powder spectrum of cimetidine.