Photon-counting X-ray imaging at kilohertz frame rates

A kilohertz frame rate readout system for Medipix2 chips is being developed at European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF). This work was initiated with the aim of meeting the growing demand for fast and noise-free X-ray bidimensional detection particularly on synchrotron beamlines. Medipix2 is a photon-counting readout ASIC of 256×256 pixels with 55 μm pitch developed in the framework of the Medipix collaboration managed by CERN. The ESRF readout system is based on a custom interface board named Parallel Readout Image Acquisition for Medipix (PRIAM) a fast PCI interface and a Linux PC. The PRIAM board implementing fast FIFOs and a programmable gate array can read up to five Medipix2 circuits simultaneously in less than 0.3 ms using the 32-bit parallel readout port of Medipix2 and 100 MHz clock frequency. This paper describes the architecture of the PRIAM board, reports on the first test results, and mentions some of the targeted applications.