Acousto-optic cell for off-line SAXS instrument

Image of lab. Various machines and technical instruments with graphs and wires attached.

We have been developing acoustic techniques for crystal nucleation control at Diamond since 2018. SAXS instruments provide the most valuable information regarding ordering in the liquid state and the transformation from liquid to solid states. So far, our instrumentation has been developed with I22 in mind and we intend to continue our studies on I22. In this project we desired to adapt our instrumentation for use on the Leeds-Diamond off-line instrument. A big issue with our experiments on I22 was poor temperature control which is vital for the study of nucleation in crystallising systems; we adapted the Peltier temperature control system which is part of the Xeuss instrument to successfully control temperature in our acousto-optic cell.

Project website

https://www.diamond.ac.uk/industry/Case-Studies/Case-study-Changing-how-when-materials-crystallise.html