AN IMPROVED BACKGROUND REMOVAL METHOD FOR XAFS

A new technique for separating the background, mu0, from the XAFS, chi , is presented and shown to be an improvement to standard background r emoval methods, especially in the near-edge region. The technique opti mizes the low-R components of chi(R). For a calculated absorption spec trum for pure Ti, the mu0 found by the presented technique agrees well with the calculated background function. For pure Pb, the extracted m u0 is shown to be nearly the same as that measured from the temperatur e dependence of the full absorption spectrum starting at an energy in the absorption edge. The reliability of the background from the new me thod at low-k values allows more information from the XAFS spectra to be used and provides an opportunity for sensitive tests of theoretical calculations in the near-edge region.