Evaluation of the Energy Dispersive Detector as a Detector-Filter System for the X-Ray Diffractometer

Abstract

AbstractA comparison of the relative merits of the energy dispersive derector-pulse height analyzer, scintillation detector-graphite monochromator, and proportional detector-pulse height analyzer combinations.Typical energy dispersive detectors are not configured for maximum efficiency on the diffractometer. Being only on the order of 3 mm diameter, a good deal of the available information is not collected by the detector. This is especially true with the Wide optics found in modern diffractometers. The energy dispersive detector incorporated into this system is optimized for the x-ray diffractometer. Its detection area is a 1.25 X 0.25 inch rectangle. The resolution is only sufficient to remove the Kβ portion of the spectrum.Conventional diffractometer techniques incorporate either a scintillation detector-crystal monochromator, or a proportional detector-pulse height analyser combination. The question posed is “what are the advantages in signal to noise ratio and pulse height distribution of the energy dispersive-pulse height analyzer over the more conventional arrangements.”