Evaluation of fluctuating dead times by time interval distribution measurement

In real counting systems, there exist dead times, during which the systems cannot correspond to incoming signals. Generally, the dead times are considered to fluctuate. In this paper a method in order to derive a probability density function f(s) of fluctuating dead time s is described. A time interval distribution was used to derive f(s). The method can become a promising tool for investigating the mechanism of real counting systems. As an example our method was applied to a Geiger-Muller counter in order to evaluate its aging effect