An economical x-ray area detector based on an intensified CCD unit

An economical charge-coupled device (CCD) based area detector for x-ray experiments was developed and assembled. Although low in cost, careful evaluation shows that this detector consisting of an optical fiber taper, an image intensifier, a relay lens, and a cooled CCD unit has good overall features and is comparable with other reported CCD based x-ray area detectors. The detector is suitable for small-angle x-ray scattering and wide-angle x-ray diffraction experiments employing either synchrotron or conventional x-ray sources. It also has several options which we could utilize under different experimental conditions. The test result, its limitations, and possible improvements are discussed.