On Tuesday, December 11, 2012 04:08:03 PM Zhaomo Tian wrote:
I got XAFS data for Ag with CO adsorption( using Ag K edge), Ag is thin film~300nm deposited on Si/SiO2 substrate. But in the original μ(E) spectra, from 25894-26044eV, four obvious diffraction peaks appear( I attached the file), and I guess they will influence the quality of fitting. Is there anyone who knows how to deal with these diffraction peak? Will it be corrected by smoothing or changing some origin data points in the original file? I want the modification that will not destroy data analysis later.
You have received some decent advice on how to post-process your data to minimize the effect of the diffraction peak. I think it bears mentioning that not all prblems are best solved after the fact in software. Some problems should be addressed as the data are measured or even beforehand. I see from the data file you sent that you were at beamline 10C at Pohang. It is hard to tell for certain from the data file or from the website, but it seems as though you were using a PIPS detector to measure your fluorescence XAFS. This is an experimental setup can be a difficult one to combine with a sample that diffracts. The sort of PIPS commonly used at an XAS beamline tends to be of a very large surface area. That means that the likelihood of some diffraction peak from the sample hitting the detector during the measurement is pretty high. In fact, it happened 4 times for you. That means you have a lot of data points to deglitch, were you to follow Kicaj's advice. Because you used a PIPS rather than a multi-element detector, you don't have the option of following any of Matthew's (excellent) advice. I hate to say it, but I think you are screwed. The best you can do is deglitch as best you can. Because you will be removing so many points from the data, you will introduce substantial systematic error into the data set that remains. I don't really see what you can do about that at this late date. So, what might you do the next time you visit the synchrotron to obtain better data? In fact, there are number of things that you can consider at the stages of sample preparation or of data collection. 1. You don't say a lot about the sample or its substrate. Perhaps you have a reason that the substrate *must* be crystalline. Perhaps not. Putting your film on an amorphous substrate would obviate the problem of diffraction from the substrate. That may be your best bet. 2. The large size of the PIPS detector is a contributing factor to the problem. Simply using a detector with a smaller surface area reduces (but certainly does not eliminate!) the likelihood of diffraction peaks hiiting it. Moving the detector farther away from the sample would serve the same purpose. Of course, doing so would also serve to reduce your count rate, thus reducing the quality of your data. There is a cost to everything! 3. Use the 13 element Ge detector instead of the PIPS. Then you can simply eliminate channels hit by Bragg peaks or do the post-processing trick Matthew described. 4. At my beamline, we have users almost every cycle who measure stuff on crystalline substrates. Our favorite trick is to mount the sample on a spinner (e.g. http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.1147815) At my beamline, we actually attach the sample the sort of small DC fan that is used to cool electronics. Inexpensive, simple, and effective! By keeping the sample constantly in motion, the energy at which the Bragg condition is met is constantly changing. This serves to reduce the effect of the Bragg peak by a few orders of magnitude by spreading it out in energy. Usually, it can be made smaller than chi(k), resulting in analyzable data. The bottom line is that you have the sort of problem that I think needs to be solved up front rather than after the fact. I know that's not helpful right now, but hopefully it will be the next time you go to the beamline. Cheers, B -- Bruce Ravel ------------------------------------ bravel@bnl.gov National Institute of Standards and Technology Synchrotron Methods Group at NSLS --- Beamlines U7A, X24A, X23A2 Building 535A Upton NY, 11973 Homepage: http://xafs.org/BruceRavel Software: https://github.com/bruceravel