The Huber G670 imaging-plate Guinier camera tested on beamline I711 at the MAX II synchrotron

A Huber G670 imaging-plate Guinier powder diffraction camera has been tested at an X-ray synchrotron source. It was found to be a very potent tool, offering an unusual combination of high angular resolution and short data collection time, while using very small amounts of sample. Specifically, it was found that: (i) the angular resolution (full width at half-maximum) varies between 0.07 and 0.15° in 2θ without focusing, i.e. relying on a parallel synchrotron beam; (ii) with a readout and erasure cycle time of 15 s, it is possible to obtain Rietveld-refinable data within less than a minute for a low-symmetry zeolite refined with 82 parameters; (iii) special attention has to be given to calibration of the detector and some general geometrical correction factors should be included in the data reduction.