EMCCD-Based Detector for Time-Resolved X-Ray Diffraction and Scattering Studies of Biological Specimens

Third generation synchrotron sources such as the Advanced Photon Source (APS), Argonne, IL, are outstanding tools for X-ray diffraction and scattering studies of non-crystalline biological materials. However, these studies are hindered by the lack of detectors that provide multiple frames of detailed structural information on the millisecond time scale at the required high spatial resolution, and large active areas. Here we report the development of a cost effective detector for time-resolved small angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) using a cooled, fiberoptically coupled electron multiplying CCD (EMCCD), whose internal gain is selectable in real-time. The performance of the detector was evaluated using a Gd₂O₂S:Tb scintillator and was compared to a current state-of-the-art SAXS detector developed at Brandeis University. We also report our first results on the fabrication of a novel, microcolumnar, ZnSe(Te) scintillator that has a promise to provide very high emission efficiency of over 100,000 photons/MeV, high spatial resolution in excess of 10 lp/mm, and a fast decay time with virtually absent afterglow. Development of this scintillator will complement the EMCCD design, permitting the advances of a high spatial and temporal resolution, large area detector for time resolved applications.