SEDEM, a Software Package for EXAFS Data Extraction and Modelling

Abstract

A software package for extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) data extraction and modelling, running on DOS- or Windows-operated PCs, is described. This package is written with the aim of giving the user a tool to undertake all steps of data processing and modelling, rather than making use of the most recent programming facilities. However, it remains easy to use, and self-explanatory to those who have already worked with EXAFS. It is divided into two main executable pieces of software. The first one is used to extract the EXAFS k(n)chi(k) function from the data and isolate the shell contributions by Fourier filtering. A tool to sum the spectra before EXAFS extraction is provided. The second one is designed to model the EXAFS spectra or the shell contributions, using amplitude and phase data either from McKale's tables, computed from the FEFF program or extracted from experimental reference spectra. This modelling program allows either an optimization of the simulation by a least-mean-square gradient algorithm, with a statistical evaluation of the result of optimization, or, in the case of a single shell, a direct determination of the four main parameters (neighbour distance and number, energy shift and Debye-Waller factor) by decorrelation of the phase and amplitude. In the presence of anharmonicity, the cumulant expansion of the radial distribution of distances is obtained from the phase and amplitude decorrelation. This package is in use at the Collaborative Research Group on Interfaces (CRG-IF) bending-magnet #32 X-ray line (BM-32) at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France.