CCD CAMERA SYSTEM FOR X-RAY DIFRACTION IMAGING

THIS PROJECT WILL INVESTIGATE THE ADVANTAGES OF A NEW 2,048 X 2,048-PIXEL CCD-TYPE SOLID-STATE IMAGE SENSOR FOR X-RAY DIFFRACTION APPLICATIONS ON BIOLOGICAL MACROMOLECULES. THE CCD WILL BE FIBEROPTICALLY COUPLED DIRECTLY TO AN X-RAY-SENSITIVE PHOSPHOR SCREEN, ELIMINATING THE IMAGE INTENSIFIER NORMALLY EMPLOYED IN SUCH X-RAY DIFFRACTION IMAGING EQUIPMENT. THIS RESULTS IN A SUBSTANTIAL IMPROVEMENT IN SPATIAL RESOLUTION AND DYNAMIC RANGE. THE PROJECT INCLUDES DESIGNING AND BUILDING THE FIXTURE FOR MOUNTING THE CCD AND FIBEROPTICS PHOSPHOR SCREEN TOGETHER, CONDUCTING THE EXPERIMENTS, AND ANALYZING THE DATA. THE PHASE I PROGRAM WILL INVESTIGATE THE ADVANTAGES OF THESE NEW IMAGE SENSORS TO X-RAY-DIFFRACTION-RELATED RESEARCH. THE HIGH RESOLUTION AND WIDE DYNAMIC RANGE OF THIS CCD IMAGING SYSTEM IS PARTICULARLY WELL MATCHED TO THE PROBLEM OF X-RAY LAUE DIFFRACTION FROM PROTEIN CRYSTALS USING SYNCHROTRON-GENERATED POLYCHROMATIC X-RAYS AND PROTEINDIFFRACTION FROM LARGE UNIT CELLS, A PHASE II EFFORT.