The real-time optimisation of electron spectrometers

A data acquisition and control system has been developed that is able to perform real-time optimisation of the potentials that define the operation of an electron spectrometer. The system compensates for voltage drifts and other time-dependent processes that degrade a spectrometer's performance. The optimisation system has been successfully applied to three types of electron spectrometer and typical results are presented, including real-time optimisations in up to eleven dimensions.