Warwick's latest X-ray machine is a single crystal CCD diffractometer, purchased with support from Advantage West Midlands.  

The instrument allows us to make every more precise measurements of crystal structure. The diffractometer allows us to work with small samples weighing less than one gram and cool them to 100K while simultaneously exposing them to an x-ray source and scanning the resultant diffractionpattern.

The parts shown inthe picture are:

At 9 'o' clock the point of the x-ray beam

At 3 'o'clock is the X-ray CCD camera

Just in front of the camera is an attenutaor to stop the camera being damaged by direct x-rays

At 7 'o' clock is the holder for the source, the crystal is just a spec onthe end of the needle and has to be held and oriented by the source holder.

At 11 'o' clock is the nozzle for the cold nitrogen gas that cools the sample.

At 1 'o' clock is an ordinary CCD camera for the operator to check the sample.

You can find more details about this instrument and links on the research pages for the Ferroelectrics and crystallography Group