The Benefits of Automated and Evacuated X-ray Optics for Powder X-ray Diffraction

X-ray diffractometers are typically equipped with different optics to set the beam geometry and divergence and to filter out unwanted background radiation. Picking the right optics is essential for good data quality in diffraction measurements, but it is not always immediately obvious which setup is the most suited for the current sample. For this reason, highly automated optics switching is important for efficient experiments. Because X-ray optics are highly sensitive precision components, and the slightest positional shift can have la big effect on data quality, an automated and precise alignment of all optics is an important feature of modern diffractometers. One source of background noise in most X-ray diffractometers is air scattering – the interaction of X-rays with gas atoms in the air. To provide a solution to all these challenges, Anton Paar has invented and patented “TruBeam” for our automated multipurpose powder X-ray diffractometer, XRDynamic 500. This article lays out all the benefits of fully automated beam optics and an evacuated beam path, and explains how they help us to provide the best X-ray data quality.