Dead Time - Paralyzable and Non-paralyzable Behaviour

Paralyzable and Non-paralyzable Behaviour

A detector, or detection system, can be characterized by a paralyzable or non-paralyzable behaviour. In a non-paralyzable detector, an event happening during the dead time since the previous event is simply lost, so that with an increasing event rate the detector will reach a saturation rate equal to the inverse of the dead time. In a paralyzable detector, an event happening during the dead time since the previous one will not just be missed, but will restart the dead time, so that with increasing rate the detector will reach a saturation point where it will be incapable of recording any event at all. A semi-paralyzable detector exhibits an intermediate behaviour, in which the event arriving during dead time does extend it, but not by the full amount, resulting in a detection rate that decreases when the event rate approaches saturation.