High-Energy detector commissioned at PETRA III

DESY, Hamburg, now owns a unique high-energy X-ray detector with holes. This first customized CdTe detector from DECTRIS, PILATUS3 X CdTe 2M-PETRA III was commissioned at the synchrotron radiation source PETRA III in Hamburg during the last week of September.

Michael Wharmby, beamline manager at the high-resolution powder diffraction beamline, summarizes the first few days: "Setup and commissioning of the detector required only little assistance from DECTRIS and we were able to test the sensitivity of the detector at the high-resolution powder diffraction beamline. We measured a mixture of crystalline X-ray standards as well as aluminum-based metal-organic frameworks – which have proven very challenging at 60 keV up to now – and also amorphous bulk metallic glasses. The detector performed really well in all cases and enabled measurement of high-resolution diffraction data in less than a second."

The new PILATUS3 X CdTe 2M-PETRA III detector will be a shared resource among the high-energy beamlines at PETRA III. In the future, the detector will mostly be used at energies between 40 and 80 keV but also up to 150 keV, for time-resolved powder diffraction and pair distribution function measurements. In addition to bulk samples, it will be used to investigate the structure of surfaces and interfaces.

Another application will be small-angle scattering studies of, for example, the nucleation and growth of nanoparticles. This specific application triggered the beamline scientists to request a customized detector design. DECTRIS skilled development team realized a solution with three holes at the right-hand side of the detector window that let the direct beam pass through the detector less than 5 mm away from the detector's active area. This design empowers users to access the very low q range to understand how the nanoscale shape of a sample develops over time.

Learn more about the PILATUS3 X CdTe 2M-PETRA III detector on our Specific Solution pages.