Rontec Fluorescence Detector

The Rontec Xflash detector consists of two independant part, the detector itself fitted with its own cooling system and the controller housing the preamplifier, the detector electronics and the power supply. The detector is based on a Silicon drift chamber. Its active surface is 5 mm2 covered by a 8 micron thick berrylium window. In order to reduce the size of the window the head is fitted with a 1.50 mm diameter nose. The drawback of this setup which reduce the recorded noise, is that it needs to be carefull aligned. The head has been fitted on the diffractometer and remotely controlled by using pneumatic cylinders.

The console consists of alphanumeric display showing the current settings and operating conditions, a keypad and a digital rotary knob. All functions are controlled through a serial interface ( serial line plugged at the back of the controller). This interface is also used for transfering the provided spectra, data and other measured values (temperature, etc...)

The controller and the detector (since the power supply is incorporated in the controller) can be switched on and off by pressing the corresponding button on the controller. The detector needs 24 hours warm up time before it could be used.