Effective Dead Time of Two Non-Paralyzable Detector Components in Series

Detector dead time losses, caused by both physical components in the detection system and the electronic data acquisition system, are perhaps the most prominent effect in non-ideal detector behavior. Most mathematical modeling methods consider the detector as a single unit with a single dead time parameter, while a true physical detector is often comprised of several serially connected components, each suffering from independent dead time losses. In this study, we develop new formulas for evaluating the dead time losses in a detection system with two serially connected components, each component with a non paralyzing dead time, while assuming that the original count rate has a Poisson distribution. The analytic results obtained are first compared with numeric simulations (showing a very good correspondence) and are then used for numeric investigation of global boundaries of the dead time effect in serially connected systems.