New procedures for analyzing Doppler-shift attenuation lifetime measurements

A generalization of an earlier proposed version of the Differential decay curve method is presented for the analysis of Doppler-shift attenuation lifetime measurements. The lifetime is derived directly from the line shapes of the depopulating and feeding transitions without any assumptions about or fitting of the time dependence of the population of the corresponding levels except for unobserved feeding when relevant. Fitting of the line shapes is also not necessary. The only approximation involved is related to the continuous treatment of the nuclear scattering events in the Monte Carlo simulation needed. Tests with simulated and real data reveal good reliability of this method. We propose also a new precise procedure where the lifetime is derived by fitting the time dependence of the population of the level of interest using the line shape of the depopulating transition and the difference of the spectra of the depopulating and feeding transitions. Practical application to simulated and real data proves the applicability of the new procedure.