Towards microstrip detectors for synchrotron powder diffraction facilities

A major improvement of todays experimental techniques in powder diffraction can be achieved by using a massively parallel detection of diffraction pat terns with arrays of solid-state detectors. In order to determine the feasi bility of this technique, a test experiment was performed at the Swiss-Norw egian Beamline (SNBL) of the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) . Diffraction patterns of previously characterized samples were first recor ded with conventional equipment: in high-intensity mode with a single slit. in front of the detector (Debye-Scherrer geometry) and at highest angular resolution with an analyzer crystal before the detector. Results were then compared to measurements performed with a double-sided silicon microstrip d etector. Particular attention was placed on angular resolution and integrat ed intensities since these parameters are of most importance for structure determination from powder diffraction patterns. The results presented in th is paper provide a basis for the design of a dedicated detector array for t he synchrotron powder diffraction facility at the Swiss Light Source presen tly under construction at the Paul Scherrer Institute. (C) 2000 Elsevier Sc ience B.V. All rights reserved.