A microcontroller for in situ single-crystal diffraction measurements with a PILATUS-2M detector under an alternating electric field

A new data acquisition system for in situ time-resolved three-dimensional reciprocal space mapping is reported. The system is based on a programmable microcontroller for generating a functional low-voltage signal, a pixel area detector serving as a master clock and a high-voltage amplifier. Both Bragg and diffuse scattering can be mapped in a large volume of reciprocal space under an alternating electric field of a pre-programmed shape. The system has been tested at the Swiss–Norwegian Beamline BM01 of the European Synchrotron by measuring the electric field dependence of diffuse X-ray scattering from a functional perovskite-based ferroelectric single crystal.