The New IµS DIAMOND II – Legendary Reliability, Twice The Intensity

 

Since its introduction in 2006, the Incoatec Microfocus Source IμS has become the market-leading microfocus sealed tube X-ray source for X-ray diffraction applications with more than 1500 sources sold world-wide. Our latest IµS family member, the IµS DIAMOND II, delivers intensities very comparable to microfocus rotating anodes, yet maintaining all the comfort of sealed tube systems. It combines our innovative diamond hybrid anode technology, that uses an industrial diamond as a heat sink in the anode for an increased power loadability, with a new cathode with a very high emission rate, resulting in an impressive twofold gain in intensity compared to the previous generation. It is exclusively available in Bruker’s D8 QUEST and VENTURE instruments for single crystal diffraction.

The Incoatec Microfocus Source IµS

The concept of using microfocus X-ray sealed tube sources in combination with X-ray optics was first proposed by U. Arndt in the early 90’s for protein crystallography. At about the same time, H. Göbel (Siemens AG) has been developing multilayer X-ray mirrors as synthetic monochromators and beam shaping devices for X-ray diffraction. In the early 2000s, Incoatec brought these two concepts together by developing dedicated multilayer mirrors for various wavelengths and applications in X-ray crystallography and diffraction, which were then combined with low power microfocus sealed tubes.

In the early years, we used microfocus sealed tubes that were designed for radiographic applications as these were commercially available. In 2006, we introduced the Incoatec Microfocus Source IµS to the crystallography and diffraction markets, followed by the IµS High-Brilliance only 5 years later. These early generations of the IµS delivered intensities in the range of traditional rotating anodes and were, therefore, successfully used in various products of our mother company Bruker AXS.

The huge success of the early generations of the IµS paved the way for the development of the IµS 3.0 and our current flagship, the IµS DIAMOND II. Both sources contain microfocus X-ray tubes designed and produced by Incoatec in Geesthacht. The tube design is fully optimized to give the best application performance in combination with multilayer mirrors tailored to the needs of the application. The IµS 3.0 and the IµS DIAMOND II are currently available in Bruker’s D8 VENTURE and D8 QUEST instruments for crystallography.

 

Please visit our technology page for more information on our IµS.