Performance of PILATUS detector technology for long-wavelength macromolecular crystallography

The long-wavelength MX beamline I23 currently under design at Diamond Light Source will be optimized in the X-ray energy range between 3 and 5 keV. At the moment no commercial off-the-shelf detector with high quantum efficiency and dynamic range is available to cover the large area required for diffraction experiments in this energy range. The hybrid pixel detector technology used in PILATUS detectors could overcome these limitations as the modular design could allow a large coverage in reciprocal space and high detection efficiency. Experiments were carried out on the Microfocus Spectroscopy beamline I18 at Diamond Light Source to test the performance of a 100K PILATUS module in the low-energy range from 2.3 to 3.7 keV.