High-speed CMOS detector for time-resolved synchrotron applications

We report on the development of a high-speed CMOS X-ray detector for time-resolved muscle diffraction and time-resolved solution scattering experiments. The detector is based on a 1024×1024 pixel resolution CMOS sensor with 17 μm × 17 μm pixels, and a low-afterglow microcolumnar scintillator film developed by RMD, fiber optically coupled to the sensor through an image intensifier. The detector can operate at up to 2,000 fps with full 1024×1024 pixel resolution and up to 120,000 fps with a reduced imaging area without any binning. The detector has an effective pixel size of 64 μm, an imaging area of 7 cm×7 cm, and the sensitivity to measure a single 12 keY photon with a signal-to-noise ratio of better than 2:1. The detector design and time-resolved diffraction experiments performed at a synchrotron using this detector are described here.