Detector dead time
= Detector dead time
The interval during which a detector or readout cannot register another event while recovering from a response. A <detector trigger> may be fast while the camera, chamber or data acquisition is still busy.
In a simple nonextending model, every accepted event starts a fixed busy interval $\tau_d$; arrivals during it are lost and do not extend it. With <Poisson process> input rate $R$, the average cycle lasts $\tau_d+1/R$, giving observed rate
$$
R_{\rm obs}=\frac{R}{1+R\tau_d}.
$$
This is a specified mathematical model, not a universal correction. An instrument whose busy interval is extended by further arrivals behaves differently. Correcting the total rate also does not remove the <multiplicity bias from a detector trigger>.