_Applied_  
_sciences_  
Application of Matched-Filter Concepts to Unbiased Selection of Data in Pump-Probe Experiments with Free Electron Lasers  
**[PERSON] \({}^{1,2,\bullet,\dagger}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{3,\dagger}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{3}\), [PERSON] \({}^{3,\ddagger}\),  
**[PERSON] \({}^{3}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{3,\lx@sectionsign,\)** [PERSON] \({}^{3}\), [PERSON] \({}^{3}\),  
**[PERSON] \({}^{4}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{4}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{4}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{5}\)**,** [PERSON] \({}^{6}\)**,  
**[PERSON] \({}^{7,8}\), [PERSON] \({}^{7,\|}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{7}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{7}\),  
**[PERSON] \({}^{7}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{7}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{7}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{7,9}\),  
**[PERSON] \({}^{7}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{1,2}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{10}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{11}\)**,  
**[PERSON] \({}^{12}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{1}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{1}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{1,\ddagger}\),** [PERSON] \({}^{1,10}\)  
**and [PERSON] \({}^{3}\)**  
\({}^{1}\)****Elettra-Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Strada Statale 14-km 163.5 in Area Science Park,  
34149 Basovizza, Trieste, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.C. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (O.P. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.F. ); [PERSON] (E.F.); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (K.C.P.) \({}^{2}\)****CNR-ISM, Area Science Park, 34149 Basovizza, Trieste, Italy  
\({}^{3}\)****Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8577, Japan; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (Ts.T. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (H.F.); motomura@spring8.orj (Ko.M. ); [PERSON]L_ADDRESS] (D.I. ); [PERSON]ADDRESS] (Y.K. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (S.M. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (Te.T. );[PERSON]IL_ADDRESS] (K.U.) \({}^{4}\)****Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (K.N. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (T.N. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (Ke.M.) \({}^{5}\)****Department of Physics, Lund University, P.O. Box 118, 22100 Lund, Sweden; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
\({}^{6}\)****CIMAINA and Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 16, 20133 Milano, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
\({}^{7}\)****CNR-IFN, Piazza [PERSON] 32, 20133 Milano, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (G.S. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (A.D.); [PERSON]EMAIL_ADDRESS] (P.C. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (C.V.); [PERSON] (M.D. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (D.F. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (F.C. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.C.C.) \({}^{8}\)****Physikalisches Institut, Albert-Ludwigs-Universitat, 79104 Freiburg, Germany  
\({}^{9}\)****Center for Free-Electron Laser Science, DESY, Notkestrasse 85, 22607 Hamburg, Germany  
\({}^{10}\)****CNR-IOM, Area Science Park, 34149 Basovizza, Trieste, Italy; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
\({}^{11}\)****Max-Born-Institut, Max-Born-Strasse 2 A, 12489 Berlin, Germany; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
\({}^{12}\)****Department of Physics, University of Connecticut, 2152 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT 06269, USA; [EMAIL_ADDRESS]  
\({}^{*}\)****Correspondence: [EMAIL_ADDRESS]; Tel: +39-040-375-8844  
\({}^{\dagger}\)****These authors contributed equally to this work. \({\ddagger}\)****Current address: RIKEN Spring-8 Center, Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo 679-5148, Japan. \({\lx@sectionsign}\)****Current address: Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 S. Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA. \({}^{\dagger}\)****Current address: Femto Easy, Parc scientifique Laseris 1, 33114 Le Barp, France. \({\lx@paragraphThe limited availability of beamtime makes it impractical to repeat measurements indiscriminately, and the large, rapid flow of single-shot data that need to be processed and aggregated into a dataset, makes it difficult to assess the quality of a measurement in real time. In post-analysis it is then necessary to devise unbiased criteria to select or reject datasets, and to assign the weight with which they enter the analysis. One such case was the measurement of the lifetime of Intermolecular Coulombic Decay in the weakly-bound neon dimer. We report on the method we used to accomplish this goal for the pump-probe delay scans that constitute the core of the measurement; namely we report on the use of simple auto- and cross-correlation techniques based on the general concept of \"matched filter\".