The apparent dead time of a geiger counter, measuring an intensity of radiation which varies periodically

Summary

A formula is derived for correcting the effect of the dead time when measuring periodically varying intensities of radiation with a Geiger counter. This formula should also be valid when the period of the variation becomes equal to the dead time of the counter, in which case the apparent dead time is reduced appreciably. An experimental test shows that with increasing frequency of the variation the number of counts indeed goes through a maximum.