A point-focusing camera for single-crystal diffraction

Bent-glass mirrors can be used to produce a narrow, highly collimated X-ray beam, particularly suitable for photographing diffraction patterns from crystals with very large unit cells (i.e., several hundred Å to a side). A camera is described that employs double-mirror focusing optics with a precession apparatus. A comparison of optical reflection and simple collimation shows that for high resolving power, focusing devices are very much superior to pinhole collimators. The reduction of background is especially noteworthy. Use of this camera has permitted the collection of accurate three-dimensional data from crystals of tomato bushy stunt virus.