A VXI-BASED HIGH-SPEED X-RAY CCD DETECTOR

For time-resolved X-ray scattering, one ideally wants a high speed detector that also is capable of giving position sensitive information. Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) have been used successfully as X-ray detectors. Unfortunately, they are inherently slow because of the serial readout. EEV has developed a CCD that has eight channels of parallel readout, thus increasing the speed eightfold. Using state-of-the-art VXI electronics, we have developed a readout system that could read the entire array in 2.5 ms using a 20-MHz readout clock. For testing and characterization, the device was clocked at a significantly slower speed of 30 kHz. The data are preamplified, and all eight channels of output are simultaneously digitized to 12 bits and stored in buffer memory. The system is controlled by a 486-based PC through an MXI bus' and VXI controller using commerically available software. The system is also capable of real-time image display and manipulation.