Sahara III

PGT's new Sahara III Princeton Gamma Tech Instruments (Princeton, NJ) has introduced the SAHARA III, a new Peltier-cooled Silicon Drift Detector which offers users an active detector area of 100 mm2.

"What would happen if you told knowledgeable users in the field of x-ray spectroscopy that there was a cryogen-free lightweight compact detector system that could achieve low-energy resolutions below 125eV and high count-rates above 100kps, and all this with a cool down period less than 2 minutes ? They would either laugh at you or insist on buying one, or multiple units , proclaims Dr. Ying, Chief of Detector Technology at Princeton Gamma Tech Instruments.

The company has delivered just this with the new SAHARA III, the latest in the SAHARA line of superior x-ray detector systems that utilize Peltier-cooled SDD technology. The SAHARA III sports an active detector area ranging from 10mm2 to 100mm2, and standard beryllium or low-energy polymer windows. The Sahara III nicely complement PGT's other x-ray detector offerings that include liquid-nitrogen cooled Si(Li), IGX and multi-element detector arrays.

Sahara II

New 10mm²Sahara II Silicon Drift Detector with 129 eV Mn Resolution and Boron Detection!

PGT's new Sahara II detector uses silicon drift detector technology integrated with PGT electronics. The Sahara II drift detector has Peltier cooling, thus it is ideal for those requiring a liquid nitrogen-free detector. The Sahara II can achieve count rates of several hundred thousand counts per second because of advanced preamplifier design and the short peaking times the SDD allows for in the pulse processor. This makes the Sahara II a good choice for a single element X-ray detector in many accelerator and synchrotron applications.

PGT Instruments Sahara II system includes 3 Peltier coolers allowing for maximum temperature stability for laboratory and industrial XRF applications. This also allows the Sahara II to have a longer snout than other detectors on the market which can be a considerable convenience in a number of circumstances. Standard PGT Sahara II systems come complete with temperature controlling hardware and pulse processor. PGT Instruments Excalibur software package is included as well.

Contact PGT directly for input including light element window, windowless or beryllium window designs. PGT Instruments has a great deal of experience fabricating UHV and other vacuum interfaces including Bellows style variable positioning mechanisms.

Detector crystals are now available in a variety of areas and with thicknesses up to 0.5 mm.

PGT Si(Li) and IGX X-ray Detectors

PGT Instruments offers a full line of X-ray detectors, in various configurations and sizes, each designed to meet your analytical requirements. PGT's history of innovation, acknowledged by two R&D100 awards for digital pulse processing and position-tagged spectrometry, means that you can depend on getting the finest detector for your money.

Both lithium-drifted silicon, Si(Li), and high-purity germanium, or IGX, detectors, are manufactured by PGT. Silicon crystal sizes include 10mm², 30 mm², 60 mm², and 80 mm². Germanium detectors are available in 10 mm², 30 mm², 50 mm² and 100 mm² sizes.

Si(Li) detectors are the most economical and time tested technology for low energy and medium energy x-rays in research applications. The IGX X-ray detector has the best energy resolution of all the solid state detector options and also the highest efficiency for medium and higher energy x-rays. Our IGX crystals are ideal for the widest range of x-ray spectroscopy applications since the energy resolution is the best available for light element detection and the efficiency of the crystal allows for excellent through-put to as high as 100 keV.

Both Si(Li) and HPGe crystal types are fully temperature cyclable! Our competition can't match that!

PGT's detectors are resistant to high-energy electrons and photons, because our Si(Li) crystal fabrication methods have been developed for use on crystals for beamlines and other high-energy applications.

A unique spectrometer design element, VZ, permits the detector to be tilted in the vertical (z) direction so that samples can be tracked over a range of working distances. VZ also imparts an extra degree of freedom in positioning the detector. Thus, whether it's optimum sample-to-detector geometry that you seek, or the need to accommodate additional spectrometers or backscatter detectors, VZ can be the solution. And the VZ design is available only from PGT!

PGT Instruments X-Ray Detector Overview

The following table gives just a few of the characteristics and applications of these detectors.

	PRISM 2000	Si(Li) Detectors High Resolution, LN cooled x-ray detectors, with detection to 186 eV Surface areas from 10 mm2–80 mm2 Beryllium or light element polymer windows High thru-put transistor reset preamplifier Variety of cryostat designs for in atmosphere to UHV
	PRISM 2000 Si(Li)60	IGX X-Ray Detectors High Resolution, LN cooled x-ray detectors, with detection to 186 eV Surface areas from 10 mm2–100 mm2 Useable energy range from 186 eV to > 100 keV Variety of cryostat designs for in atmosphere to UHV
	PRISM 2000 IG	Germanium Detector 115 eV resolution @ 1000 cps; 125 eV @ 10,000 cps Available in 50 mm² for the ultimate in resolution, high-energy efficiency and throughput Germanium with unlimited temperature cyclability
	Sahara II	Sahara II Electronically Cooled X-ray spectrometers Available in surface areas to 30 mm² Light element detection to 186 eV Superior resolution with highest thru-put Available with light element polymer window, heavy duty beryllium window or windowless configuration

Download an X-Ray Detector Brochure (3.26 MB)