A simple method to correct for pulse pile-up and dead time losses: Application to cyclic activation analysis with 14-MeV neutrons

Abstract

A method to correct for pulse pile-up and dead time ‘losses is described for the case where activities decrease during counting. For pulse pile-up, the Wyttenbach method is used and pile-up parameters are first determined. It was assumed that dead time is linearly dependent on activity. The total correction is then carried out by simple integration. In application, sodium is determined in IAEA standard reference materials (Soil-5 and milk powder A11) using cyclic activation analysis with a neutron generator and the reaction 23Na(n,α) 20F.