A direct electron detector for time-resolved MeV electron microscopy

T Vecchione; P Denes; R K Jobe; I J Johnson; J M Joseph; R K Li; A Perazzo; X Shen; X J Wang; S P Weathersby; J Yang; D Zhang

doi:10.1063/1.4977923

A direct electron detector for time-resolved MeV electron microscopy

Rev Sci Instrum. 2017 Mar;88(3):033702. doi: 10.1063/1.4977923.

Authors

T Vecchione¹, P Denes², R K Jobe¹, I J Johnson², J M Joseph², R K Li¹, A Perazzo¹, X Shen¹, X J Wang¹, S P Weathersby¹, J Yang¹, D Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA.
² Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.

PMID: 28372435
DOI: 10.1063/1.4977923

Abstract

The introduction of direct electron detectors enabled the structural biology revolution of cryogenic electron microscopy. Direct electron detectors are now expected to have a similarly dramatic impact on time-resolved MeV electron microscopy, particularly by enabling both spatial and temporal jitter correction. Here we report on the commissioning of a direct electron detector for time-resolved MeV electron microscopy. The direct electron detector demonstrated MeV single electron sensitivity and is capable of recording megapixel images at 180 Hz. The detector has a 15-bit dynamic range, better than 30-μm spatial resolution and less than 20 analogue-to-digital converter count RMS pixel noise. The unique capabilities of the direct electron detector and the data analysis required to take advantage of these capabilities are presented. The technical challenges associated with generating and processing large amounts of data are also discussed.