Speaker
Graham Smith
(BNL)
Description
Neutrons and X-rays are two of the most important probes in studies of
materials and physical phenomena. Throughout the world, major user
facilities with beams of ever-increasing intensity of both types of radiation
have been constructed or planned in recent years. This has created a need
for neutron and Xray detectors with greater sophistication and higher
counting rate capability. A few of these key developments will be discussed
here. In neutron scattering, much of the demand is for larger area coverage,
which has chiefly been provided by innovative 3He detectors or scintillator-
based detectors. Some developments with 3He detectors operating in
ionization mode are especially promising. For synchrotron studies, detectors
utilizing conversion in noble gases are now less frequently used, but still
have niche applications. There has been a significant increase in the routine
use of silicon as an X-ray converter, particularly silicon detectors with high
numbers of pixels. Some of these detector developments will be described,
with examples from elemental microprobe instruments, Xray protein
crystallography, and extended absorption fine structure studies.
Author
Graham Smith
(BNL)
