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Journal of synchrotron radiation 28(1), 131 - 145 (2021). doi:10.1107/S1600577520013958, In this paper the back-side-illuminated Percival 2-Megapixel (P2M) detector is presented, along with its characterization by means of optical and X-ray photons. For the first time, the response of the system to soft X-rays (250 eV to 1 keV) is presented. The main performance parameters of the first detector are measured, assessing the capabilities in terms of noise, dynamic range and single-photon discrimination capability. Present limitations and coming improvements are discussed., Published by Wiley-Blackwell, [S.l.]

15th Pisa Meeting on Advanced Detectors, La Biodola, Italy, 22 May 2022 - 28 May 2022; Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research / A 1047, 167814 (2023). doi:10.1016/j.nima.2022.167814, The Continuous Readout Digitising Imager Array (CoRDIA) is an X-ray imager being developed, capable of continuous operation in excess of 100 kframe/s. An overview of the architecture is presented, as well as the first test results., Published by North-Holland Publ. Co., Amsterdam

X-ray computed micro-tomography (μCT) is one of the most advanced and common non-destructive techniques in the field of medical imaging and material science. It allows recreating virtual models (3D models), without destroying the original objects, by measuring three-dimensional X-ray attenuation coefficient maps of samples on the (sub) micrometer scale. The quality of the images obtained using μCT is strongly dependent on the performance of the associated X-ray detector i.e. to the acquisition of information of the X-ray beam traversing the patient/sample being precise and accurate. Detectors for μCT have to meet the requirements of the specific tomography procedure in which they are going to be used. In general, the key parameters are high spatial resolution, high dynamic range, uniformity of response, high contrast sensitivity, fast acquisition readout and support of high frame rates. At present the detection devices in commercial μCT scanners are dominated by charge-coupled devices (CCD), photodiode arrays, CMOS acquisition circuits and more recently by hybrid pixel detectors. Monolithic CMOS imaging sensors, which offer reduced pixel sizes and low electronic noise, are certainly excellent candidates for μCT and may be used for the development of novel high-resolution imaging applications. The uses of monolithic CMOS based detectors such as the PERCIVAL detector are being recently explored for synchrotron and FEL applications. PERCIVAL was developed to operate in synchrotron and FEL facilities in the soft X-ray regime from 250 eV to 1 keV and it could offer all the aforementioned technical requirements needed in μCT experiments. In order to adapt the system for a typical tomography application, a scintillator is required, to convert incoming X-ray radiation (∼ tens of KeV) into visible light which may be detected with high efficiency. Such a taper-based scintillator was developed and mounted in front of the sensitive area of the PERCIVAL imager. In this presentation we will report the setup of the detector system and preliminary results of first μCTs of reference objects, which were performed in the TomoLab at ELETTRA.

In this paper, we are presenting the results of the first test of the Percival P2M-FSI detector with tender x-rays photons at a synchrotron beamline. Percival is a monolithic CMOS Imager for detection of x-rays in Synchrotron Rings and Free Electron Lasers: the Front-Side-Illuminated (FSI) version of the detector has been proven able to successfully distinguish tender (2keV) x-ray single photons.

In this paper, we are presenting the Percival detector, a monolithic CMOS Imager for detection of soft x-rays in Synchrotron Rings and Free Electron Lasers. The imager consists in a 2D array of many (2M) small (27um pitch) pixels, without dead or blind zones in the imaging area. The imager achieves low noise and high dynamic range by means of an adaptive-gain in-pixel circuitry, that has been validated on prototypes. The imager features on-chip Analogue-to-Digital conversion to 12+1 bits, and has a readout speed which is compatible with most of Free Electron Laser Facilities. For direct detection of low-energy x-rays, the imager is back-illuminated and post-processed to achieve 100% fill factor.

The PERCIVAL collaboration to develop a soft X-ray imager able to address the challenges of high brilliance light sources, such as new-generation synchrotrons and Free Electron Lasers, has reached one of its major milestones: a full 2-MegaPixel (P2M) system (uninterrupted 4 × 4 cm2 active area) has already seen its first light.Smaller prototypes of the device, a monolithic active pixel sensor based on CMOS technology, have already been fully characterised, and have demonstrated high frame rate, large dynamic range, and relatively high quantum efficiency.The PERCIVAL modular layout allows for clover-leaf like arrangement of up to four P2M systems. Moreover, it will be post-processed in order to achieve a high quantum efficiency in its primary energy range (250 eV to 1 keV).We will present the P2M system, its status and newest results, bring these in context with achieved prototype performance, and outline future steps.

The peak brilliance reached by today's Free-Electron Laser and Synchrotron light sources requires photon detectors matching their output intensity and other characteristics in order to fully realiz ...

Over the last decade, synchrotron radiation sources have seen a significant increase in brilliance, and the advent of free electron lasers has made entire new research fields accessible to investigations with X-rays. These advances in light source capabilities have resulted not only in a host of scientific advances and discoveries, but also in a need for a new generation of X-ray imaging detectors that can match the sources' capabilities in terms of frame rate and image dynamic range while recording image information with fine granularity over a large - preferably uninterrupted - (multi)megapixel area with single-photon sensitivity. Developing such next-generation imagers is both costly and time-consuming, and the requirements at many photon science facilities are similar enough to invite a collaborative effort. The Percival ("Pixellated Energy Resolving CMOS Imager, Versatile And Large") imager is being developed by a collaboration of DESY, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), Elettra, and Diamond Light Source (DLS) to answer this need for the soft X-ray regime

iWoRiD 2015, Hamburg, Germany, 28 Jun 2015 - 2 Jul 2015; Journal of Instrumentation 11(02), C02090 (2016). doi:10.1088/1748-0221/11/02/C02090, PERCIVAL ("Pixelated Energy Resolving CMOS Imager, Versatile And Large") is a monolithic active pixel sensor (MAPS) based on CMOS technology. Is being developed by DESY, RAL/STFC, Elettra, DLS, and PAL to address the various requirements of detectors at synchrotron radiation sources and Free Electron Lasers (FELs) in the soft X-ray regime. These requirements include high frame rates and FELs base-rate compatibility, large dynamic range, single-photon counting capability with low probability of false positives, high quantum efficiency (QE), and (multi-)megapixel arrangements with good spatial resolution. Small-scale back-side-illuminated (BSI) prototype systems are undergoing detailed testing with X-rays and optical photons, in preparation of submission of a larger sensor. A first BSI processed prototype was tested in 2014 and a preliminary result—first detection of 350eV photons with some pixel types of PERCIVAL—reported at this meeting a year ago. Subsequent more detailed analysis revealed a very low QE and pointed to contamination as a possible cause. In the past year, BSI-processed chips on two more wafers were tested and their response to soft X-ray evaluated. We report here the improved charge collection efficiency (CCE) of different PERCIVAL pixel types for 400eV soft X-rays together with Airy patterns, response to a flat field, and noise performance for such a newly BSI-processed prototype sensor., Published by Inst. of Physics, London

Scientific data 3, 160060 (2016). doi:10.1038/sdata.2016.60, Free-electron lasers (FEL) hold the potential to revolutionize structural biology by producing X-ray pules short enough to outrun radiation damage, thus allowing imaging of biological samples without the limitation from radiation damage. Thus, a major part of the scientific case for the first FELs was three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction of non-crystalline biological objects. In a recent publication we demonstrated the first 3D reconstruction of a biological object from an X-ray FEL using this technique. The sample was the giant Mimivirus, which is one of the largest known viruses with a diameter of 450 nm. Here we present the dataset used for this successful reconstruction. Data-analysis methods for single-particle imaging at FELs are undergoing heavy development but data collection relies on very limited time available through a highly competitive proposal process. This dataset provides experimental data to the entire community and could boost algorithm development and provide a benchmark dataset for new algorithms., Published by Nature Publ. Group, London

The PERCIVAL (Pixelated Energy Resolving CMOS Imager, Versatile And Large) soft X-ray 2D imaging detector is based on stitched, wafer-scale sensors possessing a thick epi-layer, which together with back-thinning and back-side illumination yields elevated quantum efficiency in the photon energy range of 125–1000 eV. Main application fields of PERCIVAL are foreseen in photon science with FELs and synchrotron radiation. This requires high dynamic range up to 105 ph @ 250 eV paired with single photon sensitivity with high confidence at moderate frame rates in the range of 10–120 Hz. These figures imply the availability of dynamic gain switching on a pixel-by-pixel basis and a highly parallel, low noise analog and digital readout, which has been realized in the PERCIVAL sensor layout. Different aspects of the detector performance have been assessed using prototype sensors with different pixel and ADC types. This work will report on the recent test results performed on the newest chip prototypes with the improved pixel and ADC architecture. For the target frame rates in the 10–120 Hz range an average noise floor of 14e− has been determined, indicating the ability of detecting single photons with energies above 250 eV. Owing to the successfully implemented adaptive 3-stage multiple-gain switching, the integrated charge level exceeds 4 10^6 e− or 57000 X-ray photons at 250 eV per frame at 120 Hz. For all gains the noise level remains below the Poisson limit also in high-flux conditions. Additionally, a short overview over the updates on an oncoming 2 Mpixel (P2M) detector system (expected at the end of 2016) will be reported.

Protein crystallization in cells has been observed several times in nature. However, owing to their small size these crystals have not yet been used for X-ray crystallographic analysis. We prepared nano-sized in vivo-grown crystals of Trypanosoma brucei enzymes and applied the emerging method of free-electron laser-based serial femtosecond crystallography to record interpretable diffraction data. This combined approach will open new opportunities in structural systems biology.

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne soft gamma ray (0.2-10 MeV) telescope designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and polarization. The heart of NCT is an array of 12 cross-strip germanium detectors, designed to provide 3D positions for each photon interaction with full 3D position resolution to 1.6 mm3. The x and y positions are provided by the orthogonal strips, and the interaction depth (z position) in the detector is measured to an accuracy of 0.4 mm FWHM using the relative timing of the anode and cathode charge collection signals. The charge collection signals are affected by cross-talk when interactions occur in adjacent strips, altering the timing measurement in those interactions. We simulated this effect in our NCT detectors, and have developed a method to correct the timing information. Here we present the simulation and the correction results.

With the increased brilliance of state-of-the-art synchrotron radiation sources and the advent of free-electron lasers (FELs) enabling revolutionary science with EUV to X-ray photons comes an urgent need for suitable photon imaging detectors. Requirements include high frame rates, very large dynamic range, single-photon sensitivity with low probability of false positives and (multi)-megapixels. At DESY, one ongoing development project – in collaboration with RAL/STFC, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste, Diamond, and Pohang Accelerator Laboratory – is the CMOS-based soft X-ray imager PERCIVAL. PERCIVAL is a monolithic active-pixel sensor back-thinned to access its primary energy range of 250 eV to 1 keV with target efficiencies above 90%. According to preliminary specifications, the roughly 10 cm × 10 cm, 3.5k × 3.7k monolithic sensor will operate at frame rates up to 120 Hz (commensurate with most FELs) and use multiple gains within 27 µm pixels to measure 1 to ∼100000 (500 eV) simultaneously arriving photons. DESY is also leading the development of the AGIPD, a high-speed detector based on hybrid pixel technology intended for use at the European XFEL. This system is being developed in collaboration with PSI, University of Hamburg, and University of Bonn. The AGIPD allows single-pulse imaging at 4.5 MHz frame rate into a 352-frame buffer, with a dynamic range allowing single-photon detection and detection of more than 10000 photons at 12.4 keV in the same image. Modules of 65k pixels each are configured to make up (multi)megapixel cameras. This review describes the AGIPD and the PERCIVAL concepts and systems, including some recent results and a summary of their current status. It also gives a short overview over other FEL-relevant developments where the Photon Science Detector Group at DESY is involved.

The PERCIVAL ("Pixelated Energy Resolving CMOS Imager, Versatile and Large") is a collaboration of DESY, RAL/STFC, ELETTRA, and DLS to develop a monolithic active pixel sensor (MAPS) to provide a suitable detector for photon science for the photon energy regime between 250 eV and 1 keV. An important performance parameter is the spatial resolution which can be inferred from the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF). The MTF measures in optical systems the relative contrast of a pattern in function of the spatial frequency. With a back-thinned and back-illuminated PERCIVAL prototype chip, dedicated MTF evaluation data were taken at Elettra's TwinMic Beamline in March 2014 at a photon energy of 535 eV. We will present our MTF derivation approaches together with MTF results for 3 pixel types of the irradiated test sensor.

On 1 June 2005, the prototype Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) flew on a high altitude balloon from Fort Sumner, New Mexico. NCT is a balloon-borne soft γ-ray (0.2–10 MeV) telescope for studying astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and γ- ray polarization. Our program is designed to develop and test technologies and analysis techniques crucial for the Advanced Compton Telescope; however, our detector design and configuration is also well matched to the focal plane requirements for focusing Laue lenses. The NCT prototype utilizes two, 3D imaging germanium detectors (GeDs) in a novel, ultra-compact design optimized for nuclear line emission in the 0.5–2MeV range. Our prototype flight provides a critical test of the novel detector technologies, analysis techniques, and background rejection procedures developed for high resolution Compton telescopes.

We performed a spectroscopic study of the 1809 keV gamma-ray line from 26Al decay in the Galaxy using the SPI imaging spectrometer with its high-resolution Ge detector camera on the INTEGRAL observatory. We analyzed observations of the first two mission years, fitting spectra from all 7130 telescope pointings in narrow energy bins to models of instrumental background and the 26Al sky. Instrumental background is estimated from independent tracers of cosmic-ray activation. The shape of the 26Al signal is compared to the instrumental response to extract the width of the celestial line. We detect the 26Al line at \~16sigma significance. The line is broadened only slightly, if at all; we constrain the width to be below 2.8 keV (FWHM, 2 sigma). The average Doppler velocities of 26Al at the time of its decay in the interstellar medium (decay time~1.04 My) therefore are probably around 100 km/s, in agreement with expectations from Galactic rotation and interstellar turbulence. The flux and spatial distribution of the emission are found consistent with previous observations. The derived amount of 26Al in the Galaxy is 2.8 (+/-0.8) M_solar.

In this paper we discuss the methods developed for the production of the INTEGRAL/SPI instrument response. The response files were produced using a suite of Monte Carlo simulation software developed at NASA/GSFC based on the GEANT-3 package available from CERN. The production of the INTEGRAL/SPI instrument response also required the development of a detailed computer mass model for SPI. We discuss our extensive investigations into methods to reduce both the computation time and storage requirements for the SPI response. We also discuss corrections to the simulated response based on our comparison of ground and inflight calibration data with MGEANT simulations.

In its space environment the INTEGRAL observatory is subject to an intense irradiation by energetic cosmic-ray particles that leads, via nuclear interactions with the telescope and spacecraft materials, to an important background of false events. In this paper we present the characteristics of the instrumental background that is observed in the spectrometer SPI (SPectrometer of INTEGRAL). We explain the tuning that has been performed on the parameters of the anticoincidence system in order to optimise the telescope sensitivity over the full energy range. Temporal variations of the instrumental background are discussed and methods are proposed that allow for their modelling in first order.

INTEGRAL's main instruments employ coded apertures to obtain directional information on the incoming radiation. In order to experimentally better determine the imaging capabilities of the spectrometer SPI, the SPI Imaging Test Setup (SPITS) has been built at MPE. It consists of the SPI coded mask and two SPI-identical Ge detectors on an XY-table which allows us to move them to cover the 19 Ge detector positions. The SPI flight model imaging calibration only covered the energy range up to 2.7 MeV and did not include extended emission. SPITS was used to explore the performance of such a coded aperture system - combined with the SPI image analysis software - for higher-energy point sources and extended sources. We find that a 2.4 diameter disk emitting 511 keV emission is reconstructed well. For the high signal-to-noise ratios of laboratory measurements, positions of point sources above 4 MeV could be reconstructed to better than 0.1.

Free-Electron Lasers and Synchrotrons are rapidly increasing in brilliance. This has led a requirement of large dynamic range and high frame rate sensors that is now being fulfilled by the PERCVIAL CMOS imager for direct X-ray detection developed at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory. Utilising a lateral overflow pixel and back-side illumination, PERCIVAL simultaneously achieves low-noise single-photon detection and high full well up to 107 e−, all while maintaining a frame rate of 120Hz. PERCIVAL is currently in test structure stage, and will be produced in 2 Mpixel and 13 Mpixel “waferscale” variants in 2015.

The PERCIVAL soft-X-ray (250 eV 1 keV) image detector project is a collaboration between DESY, STFC, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste and Diamond Light Source. The objective of the project is to develop a back-thinned CMOS detector which outperforms present soft-X ray image detector technology, in terms of sensor size, noise, dynamic range and frame rate. The size of this 13M pixel imager associated with its 120 frames per second frame rate impose very challenging requirements to the Data Acquisition Backend of the system. A DAQ backend system architecture, using a commercial deep-buffer switch to rearrange image data streams coming from different regions of the sensor via several 10Gbps Ethernet links has been proposed to reassemble image frames. Real-time data processing is to be performed on multiple, parallel commodity compute nodes. This contribution to the conference reports on benchmarking tests performed as a feasibility study, and presents the resulting recommendations for the system architecture of the PERCIVAL detector DAQ backend. The feasibility study covered three key issues: Reliably moving data in UDP packets from multiple 10Gbps Ethernet links from the DAQ front-end electronics to commodity compute nodes; Real-time processing on the compute nodes; and finally streaming data to a central parallel storage system.

With the increased brilliance of state-of-the-art Synchrotron radiation sources and the advent of Free Electron Lasers enabling revolutionary science with EUV to X-ray photons comes an urgent need for suitable photon imaging detectors. Requirements include high frame rates, very large dynamic range, single-photon counting capability with low probability of false positives, and (multi)-megapixels. PERCIVAL (``Pixelated Energy Resolving CMOS Imager, Versatile and Large'') is currently being developed by a collaboration of DESY, RAL, Elettra and DLS to address this need for the soft X-ray regime. PERCIVAL is a monolithic active pixel sensor (MAPS), i.e. based on CMOS technology. It will be back-thinned to access its primary energy range of 250 eV to 1 keV with target efficiencies above 90%. According to its preliminary specifications, the roughly 10 × 10 cm2, 3520 × 3710 pixel monolithic sensor will operate at frame rates up to 120 Hz (commensurate with most FELs) and use multiple gains within its 27 μm pixels to measure (e.g. at 500 eV) 1 to ~ 105 simultaneously-arriving photons. Currently, small-scale front-illuminated prototype systems (160 × 210 pixels) are undergoing detailed testing with visible-light as well as X-ray photons.

We report experimental results on x-ray diffraction of quantum-state-selected and strongly aligned ensembles of the prototypical asymmetric rotor molecule 2,5-diiodobenzonitrile using the Linac Coherent Light Source. The experiments demonstrate first steps toward a new approach to diffractive imaging of distinct structures of individual, isolated gas-phase molecules. We confirm several key ingredients of single molecule diffraction experiments: the abilities to detect and count individual scattered x-ray photons in single shot diffraction data, to deliver state-selected, e. g., structural-isomer-selected, ensembles of molecules to the x-ray interaction volume, and to strongly align the scattering molecules. Our approach, using ultrashort x-ray pulses, is suitable to study ultrafast dynamics of isolated molecules., submitted to PRL

The European Space Agency's International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) will be launched in 2002. One of its two main instruments is the spectrometer SPI. It uses 19 HPGe detectors to observe the sky in the energy range of 20 keV to 8 MeV with a resolution of /spl Delta/E/E/spl ap/0.2%. Directional information is obtained using a coded mask. The expected angular resolution is about 20, The SPI imaging test setup (SPITS) was built at the Max-Planck-Institut fur Extraterrestische Physik, Germany, to allow experimental verification of the imaging properties of SPI. SPITS consists of a coded hexagonal uniformly redundant array (HURA) mask and two germanium detectors. The mask is built from 63 opaque tungsten-alloy elements. The two hexagonal Ge-detectors are housed in a common aluminum end cap. They are mounted on an XY-table and can be moved to cover the 19 SPI Ge-detector positions. Mask and germanium detectors are made of SPI materials, with the exception of some Be parts, which have been replaced by thinner Al parts to allow experimental verification of the imaging properties of SPI, SPITS consists of a coded HURA mask and two germanium detectors. The mask is built from 63 opaque tungsten-alloy elements. The two hexagonal Ge-detectors are housed in a common aluminum end cap. They are mounted on an XY-table and can be moved to cover the 19 SPI Ge-detector positions. Mask and germanium detectors are made of SPI materials, with the exception of some Be parts, which have been replaced by thinner Al parts. The imaging properties of SPITS are being measured with several radioactive sources at a distance of 9 m from the detector plane. We obtain an angular resolution of about 20 at 1.8 MeV and a point-source location capability of SPITS of 15 arcmin at 1.17 MeV.

Our goal is to provide the scientific community with a large (10cm × 10cm) pixellated detector featuring a large dynamic range (1–105 photons), good spatial resolution (27µm), good Quantum Efficiency (QE) in the low energy range (250eV–1keV), variable readout speed (up to 120 frames/s), i.e. with characteristics compatible with user needs at today's of low-energy Free Electron Lasers (FEL) and synchrotron sources.

Characterizing intense, focused x-ray free electron laser (FEL) pulses is crucial for their use in diffractive imaging. We describe how the distribution of average phase tilts and intensities on hard x-ray pulses with peak intensities of 10(21) W/m(2) can be retrieved from an ensemble of diffraction patterns produced by 70 nm-radius polystyrene spheres, in a manner that mimics wavefront sensors. Besides showing that an adaptive geometric correction may be necessary for diffraction data from randomly injected sample sources, our paper demonstrates the possibility of collecting statistics on structured pulses using only the diffraction patterns they generate and highlights the imperative to study its impact on single-particle diffractive imaging.

Optics express 21(23), 28729(2013). doi:10.1364/OE.21.028729, Single shot diffraction imaging experiments via X-ray free- electron lasers can generate as many as hundreds of thousands of diffraction patterns of scattering objects. Recovering the real space contrast of a scat- tering object from these patterns currently requires a reconstruction process with user guidance in a number of steps, introducing severe bottlenecks in data processing. We present a series of measures that replace user guidance with algorithms that reconstruct contrasts in an unsupervised fashion. We demonstrate the feasibility of automating the reconstruction process by generating hundreds of contrasts obtained from soot particle diffraction experiments., Published by Soc., Washington, DC

The PERCIVAL soft X-ray imager is being developed by DESY, RAL, Elettra, DLS, and PAL to address the challenges at high brilliance Light Sources such as new-generation Synchrotrons and Free Electron Lasers. Typical requirements for detector systems at these sources are high frame rates, large dynamic range, single-photon counting capability with low probability of false positives, high quantum efficiency, and (multi)-mega-pixel arrangements. PERCIVAL is a monolithic active pixel sensor, based on CMOS technology. It is designed for the soft X-ray regime and, therefore, it is post-processed in order to achieve high quantum efficiency in its primary energy range (250 eV to 1 keV) . This work will report on the latest experimental results on charge collection efficiency obtained for multiple back-side-illuminated test sensors during two campaigns, at the P04 beam-line at PETRA III, and the CiPo beam-line at Elettra, spanning most of the primary energy range as well as testing the performance for photon-energies below 250 eV . In addition, XPS surface analysis was used to cross-check the obtained results.

Profiling structured beams produced by X-ray free-electron lasers (FELs) is crucial to both maximizing signal intensity for weakly scattering targets and interpreting their scattering patterns. Earlier ablative imprint studies describe how to infer the X-ray beam profile from the damage that an attenuated beam inflicts on a substrate. However, the beams in-situ profile is not directly accessible with imprint studies because the damage profile could be different from the actual beam profile. On the other hand, although a Shack-Hartmann sensor is capable of in-situ profiling, its lenses may be quickly damaged at the intense focus of hard X-ray FEL beams. We describe a new approach that probes the in-situ morphology of the intense FEL focus. By studying the translations in diffraction patterns from an ensemble of randomly injected sub-micron latex spheres, we were able to determine the non-Gaussian nature of the intense FEL beam at the Linac Coherent Light Source (SLAC National Laboratory) near the FEL focus. We discuss an experimental application of such a beam-profiling technique, and the limitations we need to overcome before it can be widely applied. © (2012) COPYRIGHT Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.

We demonstrate the use of an X-ray free electron laser synchronized with an optical pump laser to obtain X-ray diffraction snapshots from the photoactivated states of large membrane protein complexes in the form of nanocrystals flowing in a liquid jet. Light-induced changes of Photosystem I-Ferredoxin co-crystals were observed at time delays of 5 to 10 µs after excitation. The result correlates with the microsecond kinetics of electron transfer from Photosystem I to ferredoxin. The undocking process that follows the electron transfer leads to large rearrangements in the crystals that will terminally lead to the disintegration of the crystals. We describe the experimental setup and obtain the first time-resolved femtosecond serial X-ray crystallography results from an irreversible photo-chemical reaction at the Linac Coherent Light Source. This technique opens the door to time-resolved structural studies of reaction dynamics in biological systems.

X-ray free electron laser (X-FEL)-based serial femtosecond crystallography is an emerging method with potential to rapidly advance the challenging field of membrane protein structural biology. Here we recorded interpretable diffraction data from micrometer-sized lipidic sponge phase crystals of the Blastochloris viridis photosynthetic reaction center delivered into an X-FEL beam using a sponge phase micro-jet.

X-ray free-electron lasers deliver intense femtosecond pulses that promise to yield high resolution diffraction data of nanocrystals before the destruction of the sample by radiation damage. Diffraction intensities of lysozyme nanocrystals collected at the Linac Coherent Light Source using 2 keV photons were used for structure determination by molecular replacement and analyzed for radiation damage as a function of pulse length and fluence. Signatures of radiation damage are observed for pulses as short as 70 fs. Parametric scaling used in conventional crystallography does not account for the observed effects.

X-ray free-electron lasers have enabled new approaches to the structural determination of protein crystals that are too small or radiation-sensitive for conventional analysis1. For sufficiently short pulses, diffraction is collected before significant changes occur to the sample, and it has been predicted that pulses as short as 10 fs may be required to acquire atomic-resolution structural information1, 2, 3, 4. Here, we describe a mechanism unique to ultrafast, ultra-intense X-ray experiments that allows structural information to be collected from crystalline samples using high radiation doses without the requirement for the pulse to terminate before the onset of sample damage. Instead, the diffracted X-rays are gated by a rapid loss of crystalline periodicity, producing apparent pulse lengths significantly shorter than the duration of the incident pulse. The shortest apparent pulse lengths occur at the highest resolution, and our measurements indicate that current X-ray free-electron laser technology5 should enable structural determination from submicrometre protein crystals with atomic resolution.

Single-particle experiments using X-ray Free Electron Lasers produce more than 10(5) snapshots per hour, consisting of an admixture of blank shots (no particle intercepted), and exposures of one or more particles. Experimental data sets also often contain unintentional contamination with different species. We present an unsupervised method able to sort experimental snapshots without recourse to templates, specific noise models, or user-directed learning. The results show 90% agreement with manual classification.

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne telescope designed to study astrophysical sources of gammaray emission with high spectral resolution, moderate angular resolution, and novel sensitivity to gamma-ray polarization. The heart of NCT is a compact array of cross-strip germanium detectors allowing for wide-field imaging with excellent efficiency from 0.2-10 MeV. Before 2010, NCT had flown successfully on two conventional balloon flights in Fort Sumner, New Mexico. The third flight was attempted in Spring 2010 from Alice Springs, Australia, but there was a launch accident that caused major payload damage and prohibited a balloon flight. The same system configuration enables us to extend our current results to wider phase space with pre-flight calibrations in 2010 campaign. Here we summarize the design, the performance of instrument, the pre-flight calibrations, and preliminary results we have obtained so far.

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne soft gamma ray (0.2-10 MeV) telescope designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and polarization. The heart of NCT is an array of 12 cross-strip germanium detectors, designed to provide 3D positions for each photon interaction with full 3D position resolution to < 2 mm^3. Tracking individual interactions enables Compton imaging, effectively reduces background, and enables the measurement of polarization. The keys to Compton imaging with NCT's detectors are determining the energy deposited in the detector at each strip and tracking the gamma-ray photon interaction within the detector. The 3D positions are provided by the orthogonal X and Y strips, and by determining the interaction depth using the charge collection time difference (CTD) between the anode and cathode. Calibrations of the energy as well as the 3D position of interactions have been completed, and extensive calibration campaigns for the whole system were also conducted using radioactive sources prior to our flights from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico, USA in Spring 2009, and from Alice Springs, Australia in Spring 2010. Here we will present the techniques and results of our ground calibrations so far, and then compare the calibration results of the effective area throughout NCT's field of view with Monte Carlo simulations using a detailed mass model.

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne soft gamma ray (0.2–10 MeV) telescope designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and polarization. The heart of NCT is an array of 12 cross-strip germanium detectors, designed to provide 3D positions for each photon interaction with full 3D position resolution to < 2 mm3. Tracking individual interactions enables Compton imaging, effectively reduces background, and enables the measurement of polarization. The keys to Compton imaging with NCT's detectors are determining the energy deposited in the detector at each strip and tracking the gamma-ray photon interaction within the detector. The 3D positions are provided by the orthogonal X and Y strips, and by determining the interaction depth using the charge collection time difference (CTD) between the anode and cathode. Our preliminary calibrations of the energy and the 3D position of interactions have been completed as well as the verifications of imaging capabilities. Here we will present the techniques and results.

The High Efficiency Multimode Imager (HEMI) is an instrument currently under development for the purpose of detecting, locating, and spectroscopically characterizing gamma-ray emission sources at long-range standoff distances. The instrument design consists of multiple planes of relatively large-volume, good-energy-resolution detector modules configured for combined coded aperture and Compton scatter (multimode) gamma-ray imaging. The basic building block of HEMI is a detector module consisting of a CdZnTe coplanar-grid detector packaged along with its front-end and pulse-shaping electronics. We have developed a module that can be used to form close-packed arrays, has low dead mass, and is easily adjusted for optimum spectroscopic performance. In this paper, we provide an overview of HEMI and then detail the design, production, and testing of the detector modules.

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne gamma-ray telescope which uses cross-strip germanium detectors to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission. The compact design allows for wide-field imaging with excellent efficiency from 0.2–10 MeV. Moreover, the Compton imaging principle utilized by NCT provides polarimetric sensitivity above 200 keV. We conducted an extensive calibration campaign using radioactive sources prior to our flight from Ft. Sumner, New Mexico in Spring 2009. We present the results of our calibration of the effective area throughout NCT's field of view and compare them with Monte Carlo simulations using a detailed mass model. Additionally, we assess NCT's polarimetric capabilities with observations of a partially-polarized beam.

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon-borne soft gamma-ray (0.2-10 MeV) telescope designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and polarization. NCT consists of twelve high-purity germanium cross-strip detectors (GeDs) that measure both the position and energy of gamma-ray interactions. A 10-GeD version was flown on May 17-18 2009 from the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Fort Sumner, NM, with a total flight duration of 38.5 hours. Here we summarize the instrument, the calibrations, the flight, and our preliminary science results.

The primary scientific goal of the GRIPS mission is to revolutionize our understanding of the early universe using gamma-ray bursts. We propose a new generation gamma-ray observatory capable of unprecedented spectroscopy over a wide range of gamma-ray energies (200 keV-50 MeV) and of polarimetry (200-1000 keV). The gamma-ray sensitivity to nuclear absorption features enables the measurement of column densities as high as 10(28)cm (-aEuro parts per thousand 2). Secondary goals achievable by this mission include direct measurements of all types of supernova interiors through gamma-rays from radioactive decays, nuclear astrophysics with massive stars and novae, and studies of particle acceleration near compact stars, interstellar shocks, and clusters of galaxies.

The Nuclear Compton Telescope (NCT) is a balloon- borne soft gamma-ray (0.2 MeV to 10 MeV) Germanium Compton Telescope (GCT) designed to study astrophysical sources of nuclear line emission and polarization. A prototype instrument was successfully launched from Ft. Sumner, NM on June 1, 2005. The NCT prototype consists of two 3D position sensitive High- Purity-Germanium (HPGe) strip detectors fabricated with amorphous Ge contacts. The compact design and new technologies allow NCT to achieve high efficiencies with excellent spectral resolution and background reduction. Here we present a study of approximately 8 hours of background measurements made from a ground altitude of 1.2 km to an average float altitude of 40 km. The expected contributions to the background component are discussed, especially in light of detailed Monte Carlo simulations incorporating complete depth dependent environmental inputs, including cosmic and atmospheric photon distributions, primary cosmic rays (protons), cosmic ray secondaries (protons and neutrons), and activation induced components. The contributions of the leptonic component to the total observed background is also discussed. Special emphasis is placed on the 511 keV annihilation line, and a first attempt to image this background component is presented.

Gamma-ray line emission from radioactive decay of 60Fe provides constraints on nucleosynthesis in massive stars and supernovae. The spectrometer SPI on board INTEGRAL has accumulated nearly three years of data on gamma-ray emission from the Galactic plane. We have analyzed these data with suitable instrumental-background models and sky distributions to produce high-resolution spectra of Galactic emission. We detect the gamma-ray lines from 60Fe decay at 1173 and 1333 keV, obtaining an improvement over our earlier measurement of both lines with now 4.9 sigma significance for the combination of the two lines. The average flux per line is (4.4 \pm 0.9) \times 10^{-5} ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} rad^{-1} for the inner Galaxy region. Deriving the Galactic 26Al gamma-ray line flux with using the same set of observations and analysis method, we determine the flux ratio of 60Fe/26Al gamma-rays as 0.148 \pm 0.06. The current theoretical predictions are still consistent with our result., 10 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, A&A in press

Since the discovery of the cosmological origin of GRBs there has been growing interest in using these transient events to probe the Quantum Gravity energy scale in the range 1016–1019 GeV, up to the Planck mass scale. This energy scale can manifest itself through a modification in the electromagnetic radiation dispersion relation, specifically, an energy‐dependence of the velocity of light. To impose stringent limits on a possible modification, a flare within a GRB must be both short and significant over a wide energy band to provide a sufficient baseline for determining dt/dE, the difference in the arrival times of photons of different energies. To approach the Planck mass scale, we must measure arrival time differences on the order of 0.5 ms from soft to hard (∼10 MeV) photons within a flare for a GRB at a redshift of a few. We have searched INTEGRAL‐ and RHESSI‐observed GRBs for suitable flares, requiring a 5σ trigger on a 2 ms, 10 ms, or 100 ms time scale using only photons above 1 MeV. We present methods for automated determination of Δt/ΔE from GRB flares. GLAST’s LAT will significantly expand the energy band accessible to GRB‐based quantum gravity studies. GBM will provide more GRB flare data in the MeV regime, contributing to a systematic study of their properties.Since the discovery of the cosmological origin of GRBs there has been growing interest in using these transient events to probe the Quantum Gravity energy scale in the range 1016–1019 GeV, up to the Planck mass scale. This energy scale can manifest itself through a modification in the electromagnetic radiation dispersion relation, specifically, an energy‐dependence of the velocity of light. To impose stringent limits on a possible modification, a flare within a GRB must be both short and significant over a wide energy band to provide a sufficient baseline for determining dt/dE, the difference in the arrival times of photons of different energies. To approach the Planck mass scale, we must measure arrival time differences on the order of 0.5 ms from soft to hard (∼10 MeV) photons within a flare for a GRB at a redshift of a few. We have searched INTEGRAL‐ and RHESSI‐observed GRBs for suitable flares, requiring a 5σ trigger on a 2 ms, 10 ms, or 100 ms time scale using only photons above 1 MeV. We present met...

Gamma-rays from radioactive 26Al (half life ~7.2 10^5 yr) provide a 'snapshot' view of ongoing nucleosynthesis in the Galaxy. The Galaxy is relatively transparent to such gamma-rays, and emission has been found concentrated along the plane of the Galaxy. This led to the conclusion1 that massive stars throughout the Galaxy dominate the production of 26Al. On the other hand, meteoritic data show locally-produced 26Al, perhaps from spallation reactions in the protosolar disk. Furthermore, prominent gamma-ray emission from the Cygnus region suggests that a substantial fraction of Galactic 26Al could originate in localized star-forming regions. Here we report high spectral resolution measurements of 26Al emission at 1808.65 keV, which demonstrate that the 26Al source regions corotate with the Galaxy, supporting its Galaxy-wide origin. We determine a present-day equilibrium mass of 2.8 (+/-0.8) M_sol of 26Al. We use this to estimate that the frequency of core collapse (i.e. type Ib/c and type II) supernovae to be 1.9(+/- 1.1) events per century., Comment: accepted for publication in Nature, 24 pages including Online Supplements, 11 figures, 1 table