National Synchrotron Light Source Seminar

The PILATUS pixel detectors, large area modular two-dimensional hybrid pixel array detectors, have revolutionized protein crystallography and biological SAXS/WAXS by combining noise-free counter properties with highest data acquisition rates. These features enable optimized data acquisition modes and new experimental techniques. The PILATUS 6M detector was developed at the Paul Scherrer Institut specifically for protein crystallography. The PILATUS 1M and 2M detectors are becoming common at synchrotron SAXS facilities. Optimal data collection strategies for protein crystallography will be discussed in terms of oscillation angle, data redundancy and beam focusing properties as well as dose rate effects in room temperature data collection. Diffraction based alignment and grid scanning is ideally supported by virtue of the high framing rate (Aishima et al Acta Cryst. D66, 1032, 2010). Besides static and time-resolved biological SAXS, these detectors enable previously impossible data acquisition protocols such as scanning-SAXS and X-ray ptychography (Bunk et al, New J. Phys. 11 123016, 2009). Time resolved SAXS/WAXS experiments are enabled by the gating possibility of the detectors. The MYTHEN detector is a one-dimensional strip detector (Bergamaschiet al, J. Synchrotron Rad. 17, 653, 2010) widely used for a number of techniques as powder diffraction, surface diffraction and reflectometry.
DECTRIS is further developing the detector technology. The large area detectors are now available with a factor of 2 higher frame rates. We are investigating the influence of synchrotron bunch structure effects on count rate corrections. A new concept to increase the count rate capability is presented. The most important development however concers pixel detectors with smaller pixels and higher frame-rates. Most recent results from the EIGER detector, currently developed at PSI and to be commercialized by DECTRIS, will be shown.