ABSTRACT
The analysis of the raw data may consist of a simple division of the counts recorded in a scaler by the counting time to obtain counting rates, may require fitting an analytical function to the data, or may necessitate unfolding of a measured spectrum. In the field of radiation measurements, folding and (especially) unfolding are very important operations that have to be applied to the experimental data. In radiation measurements, folding means to obtain the shape of the measured spectrum when the source and the detector response are known. This chapter discusses methods of unfolding, assuming that an energy spectrum is measured with a multichannel analyzer or any other device that divides the measured spectrum into energy bins. There are a multitude of examples of unfolding algorithms that have appeared in the open literature. The smoothing of raw experimental data is a controversial subject because it represents manipulation of the data without clear theoretical justification.
