ID23-1 upgrade for smaller crystals

The macromolecular crystallography tunable end-station ID23-1 is now home to a new Dectris® Eiger2 X 16M detector with CdTe sensors, an Arinax® MD2-S microdiffractometer and a new OXFORD800 cryostream. This upgrade permits high-end data collection from 6 to 20 keV on small and weakly diffracting crystals where short exposure times (down to 8.5 ms) and the absence of readout noise makes all the difference. The new detector’s large detection area allows data collection up to a resolution of 0.65 Å (at 20 keV), making the beamline also suitable for X-ray diffraction on small molecule crystals. The new diffractometer has a small sphere of confusion (less than 1 µm with the standard nozzle) and offers faster raster scanning, reducing by 10 the time required for automated sample centring. Finally, the new cryostream OXFORD800 allows more precise control of the exposure conditions.