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The Maia detector has been a workhorse at XFM for over a decade. It consists of 384 individual silicon detector channels in an array as shown below. The incident beam passes through an aperture in the centre of the detector array an onto the sample. The X-ray fluorescence from the sample is collected in the so-called backscatter geometry. The energy resolution of the Maia (Mn K_a) is approximately 275 eV. With our current scanning stages, the maximum size of a scan with the Maia is approximately 130mm x 98mm ( H x V).
Below: a sample platen with a LOT of seeds getting positioned for scanning with the Maia detector.
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Vortex ME3
The Vortex ME3 is a silicon drift detector arranged in a 3-element vertical array. It is placed at a 90 degree angle to the incident beam with the sample scanned at a 45 degree angle. In this geometry the scatter collected is much less than in the Maia geometry. The energy resolution of the Vortex is about 135 eV. The maximum scan size with the Vortex detector is approximately 70mm x 98mm (H x V).
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