Spatially Resolved XRD Using Polychromatic Fan Beam and a Hybrid Pixel Detectors Timepix3

Abstract

The utilization of hybrid pixelated detectors such as Timepix3 for imaging has already been proven to have many benefits compared to conventional detectors, e.g. CCDs. The proposed work exploits these benefits for material structure analysis using x-ray diffraction (XRD) with a polychromatic fan beam. This allows simultaneous analysis of material properties and thus provides spatially resolved information about differences in the sample structure, e.g. material impurities or uneven sample treatment. The proposed measurement setup utilizes two Timepix3 detectors, an off-the-shelf x-ray tube and a simple geometry, enabling in situ measurements. The data provided by the Timepix3 detector contain both spatial and energy information for each detected photon and therefore advantages of a polychromatic beam can be fully exploited. Thanks to the polychromatic beam, clusters, formed by grain orientation can be tracked and its origin can be restored. This then allows the correct scattering angle calculation while providing location of the corresponding grain. © 2025 IOP Publishing Ltd and Sissa Medialab. All rights, including for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies, are reserved.