Improvement of the quality of the data collected using a position-sensitive detector

Abstract

A procedure for integrating the intensities of diffraction peaks which optimizes the signal-to-noise ratios and minimizes the possibility of introducing systematic errors has been extended to the data collected using a position-sensitive area detector. This technique, called “dynamic mask procedure”, is capable of finding precise boundaries of the peaks on the basis of the variances in the signal. It can now be applied to X-ray and neutron data collected on films and using one- and two-dimensional position-sensitive detectors. A test using the neutron data collected with an area detector showed a significant decrease in the estimated standard deviations of the integrated peak intensities compared with the traditional techniques of peak summation.