TestEDS.exe

[John Donovan]

The TestEDS.exe test application isn't normally necessary for anything once the Probe for EPMA and Thermo/Bruker WDS-EDS integration is set up, but I've moved the application from the TestProbe.msi installer to the regular ProbeForEPMA.msi installer in case it is ever needed.

[John Donovan]

The latest Probe for EPMA installation contains a new version of the TestEDS utility application which now has a menu to calculate dead time effects for a user specified dead time constant from 1 to 200K cps:



Different dead time constants have a surprisingly large effect on the magnitude of the corrections. Please let us know if anyone has any further suggestions for this new feature.

[John Donovan]

The latest version of Probe for EPMA ( v. 13.1.8 ) now contains an updated TestEDS application which calculates dead time for given observed count rates using the new logarithmic dead time expression from Aurelien Moy.



Update as usual using the Help menu in Probe for EPMA.

[John Donovan]

The latest version of the TestEDS utility can now also calculate predicted count rates using the exponential expression, here using 1.5 usec dead time constant:



Plotted up this looks like this:



As we can see, the exponential math fails at around 240K cps at 1.5 usec, so the calculation skips the application of a dead time correction above that point. 

In fact, all the dead time expressions (including the traditional linear expression) fail at sufficiently high dead times and/or count rates, but even the logarithmic expression works up to an input (observed) count of ~420K cps (at 1.5 usec), which corresponds to a predicted count rate of ~2 * 10^8 cps!

 

PS: the TestEDS application is found in the Utilities menu in the Probe for EPMA menu under the Windows Start button.  Try out some various dead time constants and see for yourself.