Silicon Detectors with a Differential Discriminatorfor Use in X-Ray Diffractometers.

High energy resolution silicon semiconductor detectors are developed and used in RADIAN X-ray diffractometers. The use of these detectors reduces the requirements for monochromators and β-filters, simplifies the optical scheme of a diffractometer, increases the peak-to-background ratio, and decreases the radiation source power and sizes of a diffractometer. To select useful events, a tunable differential discriminator with a reconfigurable energy window is used in the detector. The detector can operate with different X-ray tube anode materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]