Aspects of calculating first-order reversal curve distributions

Here the convolution method of Savitzky and Golay (Anal. Chem. 36 (1964) 1627) is adapted to a two-dimensional form and is found to accelerate the calculation of a FORC distribution substantially (by a factor of ∼500), producing results that are identical to those obtained with the existing method. To provide a quantitative measure of the deviation of a smoothed FORC diagram from the measured magnetisation data we present a simple method that allows reconstruction of the smoothed FORCs and an assessment of the signal-to-noise ratio of the data. Finally, a methodology based on spatial autocorrelation (Biometrika (1950) 17) is employed to determine the level of smoothing which can be performed before the smoothing process distorts the representation of the FORC distribution. In numerical tests this method appears to be highly effective in selecting smoothing levels that remove a substantial proportion of the noise contribution from the data without unduly affecting the form of the FORC distribution.