[en] PILATUS systems are well established as X-ray detectors at most synchrotrons. Their single photon counting capability ensures precise measurements, but introduces a short dead time after each hit, which becomes significant for photon rates above a million per second and pixel. The resulting loss in the number of counted photons can be corrected for by applying corresponding rate correction factors. This article presents a Monte-Carlo simulation, which computes the correction factors taking into account the detector settings as well as the time structure of the X-ray beam at the synchrotron. For the PILATUS2 detector series the simulation shows good agreement with experimentally determined correction factors for various detector settings at different synchrotrons. The application of more accurate rate correction factors will improve the X-ray data quality at high photon fluxes. Furthermore we report on the simulation of the rate correction factors for the new PILATUS3 systems. The successor of the PILATUS2 detector avoids the paralysation of the counter, and allows for measurements up to a rate of ten million photons per second and pixel. For fast detector settings the simulation is capable of reproducing the data within one to two percent at an incoming photon rate of one million per second and pixel.

[en] Recent advances in hybrid pixel detectors (HPD), motivated by the stringent demands of high-energy-physics experiments, have made a new type of spectroscopically-enabled photon-counting detector feasible. These developments could lead to improved imaging in medical and tomographic applications where detector noise currently imposes limitations. PSIMOD is a generalised system model based on a combination of GEANT4, the TCAD semiconductor simulation package and the SPICE analogue circuit simulation program. It has been developed to reproduce the response of the analogue front end of a pixelated single photon counting detector. With this suite of correlated simulations, it is possible to quickly characterise different system configurations for various detectors.

[en] Time resolved experiments require precision timing equipment and careful configuration of the machine and the beamline. The Australian Synchrotron has a state of the art timing system that allows flexible, real-time control of the machine and beamline timing parameters to target specific electron bunches. Results from a proof-of-principle measurement with a pulsed laser and a streak camera on the optical diagnostic beamline will be presented. The timing system was also used to fast trigger the PILATUS detector on an x-ray beamline to measure the fill pattern dependent effects of the detector. PILATUS was able to coarsely measure the fill pattern in the storage ring which implies that fill pattern intensity variations need to be corrected for when using the detector in this mode.

[en] A Monte Carlo simulation is presented, which computes the rate correction factors taking into account the detector settings and the time structure of the X-ray beam. The results show good agreement with experimentally determined correction factors. The PILATUS detector system is widely used for X-ray experiments at third-generation synchrotrons. It is based on a hybrid technology combining a pixelated silicon sensor with a CMOS readout chip. Its single-photon-counting capability ensures precise and noise-free measurements. The counting mechanism introduces a short dead-time after each hit, which becomes significant for rates above 10"6 photons s"−"1 pixel"−"1. The resulting loss in the number of counted photons is corrected for by applying corresponding rate correction factors. This article presents the results of a Monte Carlo simulation which computes the correction factors taking into account the detector settings as well as the time structure of the X-ray beam at the synchrotron. The results of the simulation show good agreement with experimentally determined correction factors for various detector settings at different synchrotrons. The application of accurate rate correction factors improves the X-ray data quality acquired at high photon fluxes. Furthermore, it is shown that the use of fast detector settings in combination with an optimized time structure of the X-ray beam allows for measurements up to rates of 10"7 photons s"−"1 pixel"−"1

[en] The count rate behaviour of PILATUS3 detectors has been characterized for seven bunch modes at four different synchrotrons. The instant retrigger technology of the PILATUS3 application-specific integrated circuit is found to reduce the dependency of the required rate correction on the synchrotron bunch mode. The improvement of using bunch mode specific rate corrections based on a Monte Carlo simulation is quantified. PILATUS X-ray detectors are in operation at many synchrotron beamlines around the world. This article reports on the characterization of the new PILATUS3 detector generation at high count rates. As for all counting detectors, the measured intensities have to be corrected for the dead-time of the counting mechanism at high photon fluxes. The large number of different bunch modes at these synchrotrons as well as the wide range of detector settings presents a challenge for providing accurate corrections. To avoid the intricate measurement of the count rate behaviour for every bunch mode, a Monte Carlo simulation of the counting mechanism has been implemented, which is able to predict the corrections for arbitrary bunch modes and a wide range of detector settings. This article compares the simulated results with experimental data acquired at different synchrotrons. It is found that the usage of bunch mode specific corrections based on this simulation improves the accuracy of the measured intensities by up to 40% for high photon rates and highly structured bunch modes. For less structured bunch modes, the instant retrigger technology of PILATUS3 detectors substantially reduces the dependency of the rate correction on the bunch mode. The acquired data also demonstrate that the instant retrigger technology allows for data acquisition up to 15 million photons per second per pixel

[en] Detector response functionals are found to have useful but also limited application to synchrotron studies where bunched fills are becoming common. By matching the detector response function to the source temporal structure, substantial improvements in efficiency, count rate and linearity are possible. The performance of a single-photon-counting hybrid pixel detector has been investigated at the Australian Synchrotron. Results are compared with the body of accepted analytical models previously validated with other detectors. Detector functionals are valuable for empirical calibration. It is shown that the matching of the detector dead-time with the temporal synchrotron source structure leads to substantial improvements in count rate and linearity of response. Standard implementations are linear up to ∼0.36 MHz pixel"−"1; the optimized linearity in this configuration has an extended range up to ∼0.71 MHz pixel"−"1; these are further correctable with a transfer function to ∼1.77 MHz pixel"−"1. This new approach has wide application both in high-accuracy fundamental experiments and in standard crystallographic X-ray fluorescence and other X-ray measurements. The explicit use of data variance (rather than N"1"/"2 noise) and direct measures of goodness-of-fit (χ_r"2) are introduced, raising issues not encountered in previous literature for any detector, and suggesting that these inadequacies of models may apply to most detector types. Specifically, parametrization of models with non-physical values can lead to remarkable agreement for a range of count-rate, pulse-frequency and temporal structure. However, especially when the dead-time is near resonant with the temporal structure, limitations of these classical models become apparent. Further, a lack of agreement at extreme count rates was evident