Development of a new EM-CCD based X-ray detector for synchrotron applications

We have developed and successfully demonstrated a high speed, low noise camera system for crystallography and X-ray imaging applications. By coupling an EM-CCD to a 3:1 fibre optic taper and a CsI(Tl) scintillator it was possible to detect hard X-rays. This novel approach to hard X-ray imaging takes advantage of the low equivalent readout noise performance at high pixel readout frequencies of EM-CCD detectors with the increase in imaging area that offered through the use of a fibre-optic taper. Compared to the industry state of the art, based on CCD camera systems, we were able to achieve a high frame-rate for a full-frame readout (50 ms) and a lower readout noise (<1 electron rms) across a range of X-ray energies (6 keV to 18 keV).