KEMP: A program script for automated biological x-ray absorption spectroscopy data reduction

Automation of x-ray absorption spectroscopic (XAS) data reduction is essential to cope with high-throughput data collection becoming available at an increasing number of synchrotron radiation centers. A flexible script called KEMP has been developed and implemented at the XAS beamline at EMBL Hamburg. It automatically processes fluorescence XAS data. The pipeline includes dead time correction, energy calibration, selection of fluorescence detector channels, as well as the extraction of x-ray absorption near-edge structure and extended x-ray-absorption fine structure. The output is quickly available and thus can be included in the design of further experiments, which results in a more efficient use of the beam time.