Journal of Synchrotron Radiation

Volume 14, Part 1 (January 2007)

research papers

J. Synchrotron Rad. (2007). 14, 151-157 [ doi:10.1107/S0909049506048783 ]

Application of a hybrid pixel detector to powder diffraction

S. Basolo, J.-F. Bérar, N. Boudet, P. Breugnon, B. Caillot, J.-C. Clemens, P. Delpierre, B. Dinkespiler, S. Hustache, I. Koudobine, C. Meessen, M. Menouni, C. Mouget, H. Palancher, P. Pangaud, R. Potheau and E. Vigeolas

Abstract: Results obtained using a hybrid pixel photon-counting detector in powder diffraction experiments are presented. The detector works at room temperature and its dynamic response ranges from 0.01 photons pixel^-1 s^-1 up to 10⁶ photons pixel^-1 s^-1. The pixel sizes are 0.33 mm × 0.33 mm for a total area of 68 mm × 68 mm. On recording high-resolution diffraction patterns of powders, a reduction of the experimental time by more than a factor of 20 is obtained without loss of data quality. The example of an X-zeolite shows that such detectors can be used for very demanding anomalous experiments. In situ experiments of quenching liquid oxides show that frames of 0.01 s can be achieved for studying such processes.

Keywords: pixels; zeolite; photon counting; X-rays; semiconductor detector.