Area detectors in single-crystal neutron diffraction
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Date
2015-12-01
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IOP Science
Abstract
The introduction of area detectors has brought about a gentle revolution in the routine application of single-crystal neutron diffractometry. Implemented first for macromolecular crystallography, electronic detectors subsequently gradually spread to chemical and physics-oriented crystallography at steady-state sources. The volumetric surveying of reciprocal space implicit in the Laue technique has required area detectors right from the start, whether using film and more recently image plates and CCD-based detectors at reactors, or scintillation detectors at spallation sources. Wide-angle volumetric data collection has extended application of neutron single-crystal diffractometry to chemical structures, sample volumes, and physical phenomena previously deemed impossible. More than 30 of the dedicated single-crystal neutron diffractometers at steady-state reactor and neutron spallation sources worldwide and accessible via peer-review proposal mechanisms are currently equipped with area detectors. Here we review the historical development of the various types of area detectors used for single crystals, discuss experimental aspects peculiar to experiments with such detectors, highlight the scientific fields where the use of area detectors has had a special impact, and forecast future developments in hardware, implementation, and software.© 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd
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Keywords
Monocrystals, Neutron diffraction, Crystallography, Electronic equipment, Laue method, Spallation
Citation
McIntyre, G. J. (2015). Area detectors in single-crystal neutron diffraction. Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 48(50), 504002. doi:10.1088/0022-3727/48/50/504002