PULSE (PHOTON) COUNTING - DETERMINATION OF OPTIMUM MEASUREMENT SYSTEM PARAMETERS

Linearity measurements and integral pulse height distributions have been used to evaluate the effects of electron multiplier voltage and discriminator coefficient (Ad) on the stability, sensitivity, dynamic range of three pulse counting measurement systems. The data show that selection of the highest possible voltage has significant advantages for most experiments, but that the choice of an “optimum” value for Ad depends on the requirements of the particular experiment and requires careful evaluation of the trade-offs among stability, sensitivity, dynamic range. Semiquantitative evaluation of these trade-offs on the basis of the experimental results is illustrated. The data also show clearly that measurements such as those reported here must be made on each system, since specific results for one system cannot be generalized to others. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.