Treatment of EXAFS data taken in the fluorescence mode in non-linear conditions

The aim of this work is to investigate the possibility of extracting correct structural parameters from fluorescence EXAFS data taken at high count rates with an energy-resolving detector. This situation is often encountered on third-generation synchrotron radiation sources which provide a high flux on the sample. Errors caused by pulse pile-up in the extraction of structural information have been quantified in a real experiment, and different approaches to the problem of data correction have been elaborated. The different approaches are discussed in a comparison of the ability of each kind of correction to recover the correct structural parameters. The result of our analysis is that it is possible to work in non-linear conditions and correct the data, if the response of the acquisition system is known. Reliable structural information can be obtained with data acquired up to a count rate equal to approximately 60% of the inverse of the dead time.