Facilities for solution scattering and fibre diffraction at the Daresbury SRS

Abstract

The small-angle scattering facility at Daresbury has been constructed for diffraction studies of a wide range of naturally occurring and synthetic materials. The high brightness of the SRS is combined with focusing optics, resulting in exposure times that can be two or three orders of magnitude less than those required on a conventional source. Spacings of 2000 Å in the vertical direction and 300 Å in the horizontal direction can be observed, while the resolution between diffraction orders is 5000 and 600 Å. In addition, preliminary results have been obtained on a double-crystal diffractometer that has a resolution, in one dimension, of better than 26 000 Å. For high-angle fibre diffraction studies, a camera with pinhole collimation has been constructed. Examples from solution scattering and fibre diffraction are used to illustrate the performance of these facilities.