Bruker D8 Venture

The UNSW D8 Venture has a Bruker Photon III 28 Mixed mode X-ray detector fitted.

This detector is able to work in both photon counting and integration modes allowing high signal-to-noise ratios and accurate intensities. There is no detector noise, enabling high linearity and excellent quality data.

This detector is much more sensitive than the old CCD 'home source' detectors, and coupled with the intensity of the Diamond X-ray source enables much faster data collection. Typical 'still' frames are in the order of 10 second exposures, with effectively instantaneous read-out.

The UNSW Bruker diffractometer has a Diamond IµS copper (Copper K-alpha x-ray energy has a wavelength of  1.5406Å and an energy of 8.04 keV) sealed X-ray source. This is a microfocus (~100 µm, round) X-ray source providing about a 20% higher average peak flux density than a new rotating anode generator. The source is fully air-cooled and has a long-lifetime.

The source is made from a hydrid copper-diamond anode, consisting of a thin layer of copper on a synthetic diamond substrate. The copper layer produces the X-rays while the diamond substrate dissipates the heat load produced, providing excellent stability and lifetime. The Diamond source has a 6 degree take-off angle and a maximum voltage of 50 kV.

The Copper Diamond Source is combined with HELIOS optics to give a spot focus of ~100 µm (round), with a 7.5 mrad beam divergence.

This instrument was acquired with the support of Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities Grant: ARC LIEF 190100165.