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Faster data collection at BM01A following detector upgrade

10-06-2011

A detector upgrade on the Swiss–Norwegian beamline BM01A was carried out at the end of March. The existing CCD detector of type Onyx from Oxford Diffraction Ltd (now part of Agilent Technologies) has been replaced by a Titan detector supplied by the same company.

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The new detector has the same physical dimensions (i.e. 165 mm diameter), but has a read-out cycle that is about four times faster. Typical data-collection times will be reduced by at least a factor of two. In addition, this latest generation of CCD detectors has a much improved dynamic range.

The new detector was operational within a few hours of installation and has already been used by several external groups, including scientists from the Department of Materials of the ETH Zurich and from the Laboratory for Neutron Scattering at the Paul-Scherrer Institute. The enhanced performance of the new CCD detector will provide opportunities to improve both the quantity and quality of the diffraction data from BM01A.