Spectral noise distortion in photoelectron spectroscopy by acquiring data with multidetector systems

Abstract

Acquiring data with multidetector systems leads in many cases to spectral distortion. The reason is the possible misfit in the energy separations of the detectors and the chosen energy step width. We present formulae for calculating the spectral distortion from the distances of the single detectors for two different methods of data treatment. From the formulae we can estimate the spectral distortion for typical conditions. Numerical simulations show that both methods affect not significant the resolution for typical conditions. The partitioning of the collected data between energy channels can result in a reducing of the noise to 30% of the true noise. We present a general formula for calculating this smoothing effect caused by the apportioning method, which is important for a correct statistical treatment of such distorted spectra. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.