A Bonse–Hart ultrasmall angle x-ray scattering (USAXS) instrument employing both synchrotron and conventional x-ray sources was constructed. The instrument could be used to determine the structure of systems with inhomogeneity sizes on the order of ∼1000 nm. The characteristics of the instrument by using synchrotron and conventional x-ray sources were compared. The use of synchrotron radiation showed much improved features not only in scattered intensity, but also in angular resolution. The scattered intensity was increased by a factor of about 20. Therefore weaker scattering systems could be investigated. By using the synchrotron radiation, the deficiency of the Bonse–Hart camera could be compensated. An angular scan containing ∼30 data points in the scattering angle region smaller than ∼2 mrad with reasonable signal-to-noise ratio could be completed within 5–10 min for samples with reasonable scattering power. Therefore, kinetic studies could be possible if the half time of structural development in a system is of the order of hours. For static experiments, a conventional x-ray source could be used more conveniently to obtain a scattering curve with similar quality as that by means of synchrotron radiation partially because the channel-cut crystals were not optimized for the synchrotron beam divergence and partially because alignments could be accomplished at a more leisurely pace using the conventional x-ray source.

An economical charge-coupled device (CCD) based area detector for x-ray experiments was developed and assembled. Although low in cost, careful evaluation shows that this detector consisting of an optical fiber taper, an image intensifier, a relay lens, and a cooled CCD unit has good overall features and is comparable with other reported CCD based x-ray area detectors. The detector is suitable for small-angle x-ray scattering and wide-angle x-ray diffraction experiments employing either synchrotron or conventional x-ray sources. It also has several options which we could utilize under different experimental conditions. The test result, its limitations, and possible improvements are discussed.

We developed a two-dimensional x-ray detector for x-ray beam profile analysis. The detector was built from commercially available parts, which included a low-cost 8-bit CCD camera, and a zoom lens coupled to a close-up lens, to which was attached a fiber-optic faceplate coated with (Gd2O2S:Tb) phosphor to a surface density of (10 mg/cm2). Testing of the detector unit has shown good linearity of response to the incident x-ray intensity (within ±4%), and good spatial linearity. The advantages of this detector lie mainly in its compactness, its ease of maneuverability, and the fact that it can be remotely controlled by a PC/AT computer at a reasonable cost (∼$1000 without the PC/AT).