Abstract
Motivated by the challenge of capturing complex hierarchical chemical detail in natural material from a wide range of applications, the Maia detector array and integrated realtime processor have been developed to acquire X-ray fluorescence images using X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy (XFM). Maia has been deployed initially at the XFM beamline at the Australian Synchrotron and more recently, demonstrating improvements in energy resolution, at the P06 beamline at Petra III in Germany. Maia captures fine detail in element images beyond 100 M pixels. It combines a large solid-angle annular energy-dispersive 384 detector array, stage encoder and flux counter inputs and dedicated FPGA-based real-time event processor with embedded spectral deconvolution. This enables high definition imaging and enhanced trace element sensitivity to capture complex trace element textures and place them in a detailed spatial context. Maia hardware and software methods provide per pixel correction for dwell, beam flux variation, dead-time and pileup, as well as off-line parallel processing for enhanced throughput. Methods have been developed for real-time display of deconvoluted SXRF element images, depth mapping of rare particles and the acquisition of 3D datasets for fluorescence tomography and XANES imaging using a spectral deconvolution method that tracks beam energy variation.
Highlights
The design of the Maia detector array and imaging system has been motivated by the need to capture intricate spatial and chemical detail in complex natural samples
If we concentrate on the goal of maximizing information content within the scale of geological samples presented for X-ray fluorescence mapping analysis the textural clues are contained within spatial scales from a few cm down to the focussed X-ray beam size of ~1 μm
Application methods using Maia The key capabilities of the Maia detector system that enable the high throughput of the X-ray Fluorescence Microscopy (XFM) beamline are (i) transit times per pixel down to 50 μs [14], (ii) close detection geometry providing a solid angle of 1.3 sr [5], (iii) high sustained count rates, normally up to 12 M/s, (iv) 100 × 100 mm2 scan range and image area (600 × 300 mm2 on the XFM large format stage), (v) image pixel count beyond 108 pixels, (vi) real-time spectral deconvolution and image display, and (vii) moderate inelastic scattering signal that provides good collective images of light elements [18], especially useful for biological samples [19,20,21,22]
Summary
The design of the Maia detector array and imaging system has been motivated by the need to capture intricate spatial and chemical detail in complex natural samples.
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