Dead-time effects in X-ray spectra taken with a digital pulse processor and a silicon drift detector were investigated when the number of events at the low-energy end of the spectrum was more than half of the total, at counting rates up to 56 kHz. It was found that dead-time losses in the spectra are energy dependent and an analytical correction for this effect, which takes into account pulse pile-up, is proposed. This and the usual models have been applied to experimental measurements, evaluating the dead-time fraction either from the calculations or using the value given by the detector acquisition system. The energy-dependent dead-time model proposed fits accurately the experimental energy spectra in the range of counting rates explored in this work. A selection chart of the simplest mathematical model able to correct the pulse-height distribution according to counting rate and energy spectrum characteristics is included.
Air concentration estimation of radionuclides discharged from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station using NaI(Tl) detector pulse height distribution measured in Ibaraki Prefecture