X Ray Facility

410-413 Kasha Laboratory of Biophysics    Off. Phone: 850-644-6448

Institute of Molecular Biophysics              Lab. Phone: 850-645-1333

Florida State University                             Fax: 850-644-7244

Tallahassee, FL 32306-4380                         E-mail: soma@sb.fsu.edu

URL: http://www.sb.fsu.edu/~xray          http://www.sb.fsu.edu/~soma

XRF Instrument Description

X-Ray Facility Instruments & Resources

Updated Oct. 10, 2005 version

 

Table of contents

Facility Instruments. 2

Main. 2

Facility. 2

X-Ray Generators. 2

Rotating Anode Generators. 2

X-Ray Detectors. 2

Image Plate. 2

Charge coupled device (CCD) 3

Auxiliaries. 3

Focusing & Cryo Components. 3

Mirror System.. 3

Cryo System.. 4

Two-theta Stage. 4

Auto Refill System.. 4

Computer Resources. 4

Computers & Peripherals. 4

Software. 5

Archiving and Storage. 5

Accessories. 6

Microscopes. 6

Crystal Documentation. 7

Crystal manipulation. 7

Laboratory Space & Amenities. 7

NIH/NSF style description. 7

 

ã 1998-2005 Thayumanasamy Somasundaram

414 Kasha Laboratory of Biophysics

Institute of Molecular Biophysics • Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL 32306-4380

E-mail: soma@sb.fsu.edu • URL: http://www.sb.fsu.edu/~soma

 

Phone 850.644 6448 • Fax 850 644 7244

October 10, 2005

 

 

XRF

 

Facility Instruments

Main

Facility

The X-Ray Facility is located on the East side of the fourth floor of the newly renovated Kasha Laboratory of Biophysics (KLB), Institute of Molecular Biophysics (IMB), Florida State University (FSU) in Tallahassee FL 32306-4380.  It occupies approximately 1350 ft2 of space consisting of one large laboratory, one cold room, two smaller work areas and one office room.  A schematic diagram of the X-Ray Facility is shown in Figure 1.

X-Ray Generators

The X-Ray Facility has three rotating anode generators.  Two of the three generators are manufactured by Rigaku Corporation of Japan and the third generator is manufactured by Elliott Neutron Division of England.  All the generators are located in KLB 413 and are equipped with copper rotating anodes (x-ray output wavelength, l=1.541Å).  Rigaku generators (Model # RU-H2R) have a 0.3 x 3.0 mm2 fine focal point projected on to the anode with the total load capacity of 5.4 kW.  Elliott (Model # GX-20) has a 0.15 x 1.50 mm2 fine focal point projected on to the anode with the total load capacity of 1.2kW.  Rigaku generators were manufactured in 1993 and the Elliott in 1980.

X-Ray Detectors

X-Ray Facility has one image plate (IP) detector made in 1992 by Rigaku Corporation of Japan (Model R-Axis IIc).  It is an automated IP reader with two identical IPs positioned 180° from each other.  The data acquisition is controlled via a dedicated dual 733 MHz Pentium III computer with 756 MB of memory running under Windows XP SP2 operating system.  The detector capabilities are:

1)      Reusable IPs are based on BaFBr: Eu2+ Photo-Stimulable Luminescence (PSL),

2)      The IP with 1900 x 1900 pixel (102 mm/pixel) active area allows continuous data collection with very little dead time between plate swapping,

3)      Automated read and erasure of 16 bit/pixel x-ray diffraction data with HeNe laser and erase lamp,

4)      Automated analog to digital conversion and export of data to host computer via SCSI interface,

5)      High dynamic range (104 to 105, compared to 102 for photographic film), higher sensitivity (102 times more compared to photographic film) and linear response, and

6)      The read-out time for 110 mm/pixel size is approximately eight (8) minutes.

X-Ray Facility has one charge coupled device (Mar CCD165) detector manufactured in 2000 by Mar-USA Inc. of Evanston, IL.  It is an automated detector with a circular x-ray active area of 165 mm diameter with a very fast read-out of data.  The data acquisition is controlled via a dedicated single 651 MHz Pentium III computer with 512 MB of memory running under RedHat Linux 8.0 operating system.  The capabilities of the CCD are:

1)      A circular detector with a large (165 mm diameter) x-ray active area consisting of one single CCD chip with no gap between chips,

2)      CCD chip is cooled to -70°C using peltier cooler to reduce background noise and dark current,

3)      Fast read-out time of 3.5 s for a 2048 x 2048 pixel active area with 78 mm/pixel and 16 bit/pixel, and

4)      Small fiber-optic taper (2.7:1) giving good demagnification of the image at the CCD

Focusing & Cryo Components

Both the Rigaku generators are coupled to confocal mirror systems manufactured by Osmic Inc, Troy, MI.  Elliott generator is coupled to long Supper Mirrors manufactured by Charles Supper Inc, Natick, MA.  The confocal mirror (CMF Confocal Max-Flux) Model CMF 12-38-Cu6 ‘Blue’ mirror from Osmic is coupled to the R-Axis IIc IP detector.  Model CMF 20-28-Cu6 ‘Purple’ mirror from Osmic is coupled to marCCD 165 detector.  Long supper double mirrors (Model # 7616) have adjustable focal distance.  All mirror systems are purged with helium and are constantly tuned to maximize their output intensity.  Advantages of the Confocal Max-Flux mirror system are:

1)      It reduces the number of independent alignment parameters making the focusing process faster,

2)      It also reduces the number of coupled alignment parameters,

3)      Specialized multi-layer mirror coating reduces the contaminating radiation while maximizing the Copper Ka output, and