Vol. XVIII, No. 1, Pp. 1-50
June 2003
UDC 621.039+614.876:504.06
YU ISSN 1451-3994

Pages: 16-21

Authors: Senada Avdić, Roumiana Chakarova, Imre Pazsit

Abstract

This paper deals with the analysis of experimental positron lifetime spectra in polymer materials by using various algorithms of neural networks. A method based on the use of artificial neural networks (ANNs) for unfolding the mean lifetime and intensity of the spectral components of simulated positron lifetime spectra was previously suggested and tested on simulated data [Pázsit et al, Applied Surface Science 149 (1998), 97]. In this work, the applicability of the method to the analysis of experimental positron spectra has been verified in the case of spectra from polymer materials with three components. It has been demonstrated that the backpropagation neural network can determine the spectral parameters with a high accuracy and perform the decomposition of lifetimes which differ by 10% or more. The backpropagation network has not been suitable for the identification of both the parameters and the number of spectral components. Therefore, a separate ANNs module has been designed to solve the classification problem. Module types based on self-organizing map and learning vector quantization algorithms have been tested. The learning vector quantization algorithm was found to have better performance and reliability. A complete ANN analysis tool of positron lifetime spectra has been constructed to include a spectra classification module and parameter evaluation modules for spectra with a different number of components. In this way, both flexibility and high resolution can be achieved.

Key words: positron lifetime spectra, unfolding procedure, spectral parameters, backpropagation network, spectral components, classification, SOM and LVQ algorithms

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