The 6 m point-focusing small-angle X-ray scattering camera at the high-intensity X-ray laboratory of Kyoto University

A new multipurpose X-ray small-angle scattering camera system consisting of a rotating-anode X-ray generator, a double-focusing collimator and a two-dimensional position-sensitive detector has been developed at the High-Intensity X-ray Laboratory of Kyoto University. The overall camera length is 6 m, and the sample-to-detector distance can be varied in 0.5 m increments up to 3 m to cover scattering angles ranging from 0.001 to 0.18 rad. The collimator consists of a pair of crossed-plane total-reflection mirrors of 40 cm in length. The mirrors, which are mechanically bent to form cylindrical surfaces, provide point collimation free of collimation error. General-purpose sample holders equipped with a programmable temperature controller are provided for both transmission and scattering measurements; the temperature is maintained within ± 0.1 K in the range of 223-573 K. A cryostat for measurements down to 20 K, a dynamic sample deformation apparatus, and a temperature-jump equipment are also available. The multi-wire delay-line position-sensitive proportional counter has an active area of 128 × 128 mm with a spatial resolution of 0.5 × 1.0 mm. The data acquisition is controlled by a real-time front-end processor through a CAMAC interface. The data are recorded in a dual-port histogramming memory of 32 bit × 1 Mwords, which enables direct access to the data from the main computer for real-time monitoring and analysis. The performance of the camera is demonstrated with some selected examples: diffraction patterns from carp lateral line nerve myelin and chicken-tendon collagen fibrils, a Guinier plot of the scattering from polystyrene in dilute solution, and time-resolved measurements of polypropylene during the annealing process.