Fast two-dimensional detection for X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy using the PILATUS detector

The first X-ray photon correlation spectroscopy experiments using the fast single-photon-counting detector PILATUS (Paul Scherrer Institut, Switzerland) have been performed. The short readout time of this detector permits access to intensity autocorrelation functions describing dynamics in the millisecond range that are difficult to access with charge-coupled device detectors with typical readout times of several seconds. Showing no readout noise the PILATUS detector enables measurements of samples that either display fast dynamics or possess only low scattering power with an unprecedented signal-to-noise ratio.