ALBA Synchrotron
A new Position Sensitive Detector has been installed in the ALBA Synchrotron beamline devoted to high-angular resolution and high throughput standard powder diffraction. The project is co-funded by the Spanish government through the 2019 call for Scientific-Technical Equipment.
Summer is time for holidays but also for maintenance and upgrades at synchrotron light facilities. On July 7, 2021 three members from DECTRIS, a Swiss company specialized in the manufacture of hybrid photon counting X-ray detectors, came to ALBA to perform the site acceptance test of the new Position Sensitive Detector at MSPD.
This instrument is the key element of the beamline as it is used for locating and counting X-rays scattered out of a sample irradiated by synchrotron light of a specific energy. The new Position Sensitive Detector, consisting of 8 individual modules mounted on an ALBA designed mechanics, covers a wide angular range around the sample. Tests proved its effectiveness in the range of energy used at MSPD (8-50 keV), offering good spatial resolution.
This new detector is replacing the previous one installed in the beamline, which has been successfully operating for eight years, giving service to a great number of users and helping in the production of many scientific publications.
The successful operation of this new detection setup, apart from them Experiments division, involved as well ALBA mechanical, computing and electronics engineering.
The acquisition of this instrument has been possible thanks to the support of the call for Scientific-Technological Equipment, launched in 2019 by the Spanish Government, under the State Subprogram for Research Infrastructures and Scientific-Technical Equipment.
Detail of the new detector installed at MSPD powder diffraction station.