High-performance X-ray detectors for the new powder diffraction beamline I11 at Diamond

Abstract

The design and performance characterization of a new light-weight and compact X-ray scintillation detector is presented. The detectors are intended for use on the new I11 powder diffraction beamline at the third-generation Diamond synchrotron facility where X-ray beams of high photon brightness are generated by insertion devices. The performance characteristics of these detection units were measured first using a radioactive source (efficiency of detection and background count rate) and then synchrotron X-rays (peak stability, light yield linearity and response consistency). Here, the results obtained from these tests are reported, and the suitability of the design for the Diamond powder beamline is demonstrated by presenting diffraction data obtained from a silicon powder standard using a prototype multicrystal analyser stage.

Fine-grained amorphous calcium silicate CaSiO3 from vacuum dried sol–gel – Production, characterisation and thermal behaviour

“…4 pattern c). The high X-ray intensity available from the I11 undulator source, coupled with the bespoke detection systems [81,57] with wide dynamic ranges (i.e. low background, high contrast) and extremely high particle averaging makes SXRPD measurements on this beamline sensitive to the presence of weak or very dilute phases [58].…”

Beamline I11 at Diamond: A new instrument for high resolution powder diffraction

“…The detectors themselves were specifically designed and developed for this instrument and their performance characteristics have been reported elsewhere. 13 For a fixed operational energy, 45 powder patterns are thus measured simultaneously by each crystaldetector combination as 2 is scanned. To obtain whole pattern coverage ͑e.g., 5°-145°2͒ the diffractometer needs only to scan the 30°angular range between arms plus a few degrees extra to provide sufficient overlap such that all 2 angles are sampled by at least nine crystals.…”

The 10 μm band in amorphous MgSiO3: the influence of medium-range structure, defects and thermal processing

“…This provides an "intensity recovery" measurement geometry to speed up collection times and also removes unwanted background scattering contributions. The lownoise, wide dynamic range detectors (Tartoni et al 2008) used in conjunction with the analyser crystals means that nearly all of the measured scattering intensity away from the primary beam direction (i.e. above ∼1 Å −1 in Fig.…”