GE/Fuji Image Plates at D1

Detlef Smilgies

Mount and beamstop

• insert a plate, white or blue side facing the beam in the holder with the photocarton cover facing upstream
• gently tighten screws, two diagonal screws are enough, top rear and bottom front screw are the best combination
  
• for the WAXS range the image plate should be about 200 mm from the sample, with beamstop in the center
• use 1/16"Al as attenuator for the direct beam at 10keV; verify beam position with a burn and without plate
• for line-up use the Idet ion chamber with beam stop about 500 mmm downstream of sample and slide the holder out with a clamp marking the scattering position; often Idet is already set up with the SAXS camera for GIS/WAXS
  
• make sure the Uniblitz shutter is closed, before opening stops to expose a plate (shclose command)
  
• use macro "expose [time]" for taking images of an exposure given by [time]; monitor intensities will be saved in the scan file
• start with a 1 sec exposure for a new sample
  
• put exposed plate in the holder and read them (see below)
• the plate goes with the white or blue side facing up onto the holder; the magnetic backing will make it stick
  
• place the straight corner in A8, where the finger hole is - then plate orientation is consistent
• line up the plate with the straight edges of the holder - be careful not to bend the plate
• put the holder into the reader with the plate facing down, arrow to arrow, and close the lid
• with a bit of practice this can be done in less than 1 min
  
• erase plate after read-out for 5 min in the light bath

Reading the plate

• start program "Typhoon FLA 7000"
• in main menu choose mode "Phosphorimaging"
  
• start-up parameters: LOAD CONDITION > CHESS
• in case reader parameters are lost
  
• laser and correction will automatically be selected
  
• photo multiplier voltage (PMT): 800
• Pixel Size: 100
• Latitude: 4
  
• Mode (image plate size in [cm]): 20 x 25
• files for the time being are saves as TIFF and GEL - both can be read by fit2d
  
• image size will be about 10MB either way
• there are some remaining issues with autoscaling of saved data -  to be figured out
• the Edit > Preferences menu defines the saving mode:
• Scan Settings: correction - manual, ND Filter - off, Scan Mode - Standard
• Image file settings: File Format - GEL and TIFF
  
• check user directory
  
• the H: drive is mapped to the station computer
• go to your user directory, and make a subdirectory for the images, e.g. "IP"
  
• choose a name of the image based on sample name and current scan number
  
• press "Start Scan"  - the scanning menu will pop up
• be patient and wait for the reader
• some pixel statistics is provided (inset on the right) - you can judge from that how close you are to saturation
• use "linear range" for viewing
• the left and right red lines indicating the grayscale range can be moved with the mouse to change the image contrast and will show up in the grayscale image
  
• the image on the left hand provides a gray scale image of the exposure
• some additional remarks
  
• you can "Stop" reading the plate if necessary (wrong plate etc.)
• you do not need to use "Save" - the original image is already saved
• you do not need to use "Launch" - the program launched is for fluorescent assays
  
• wait until the "Return" botton is active; now the plate can be safely removed
• images can be analyzed with fit2d (version 12)
• image size is 2500 x 2000 pixels
• typical range (user min/max) for TIFF is 65 to 65,000
• GEL is a horizontally mirrored image of TIFF; have not figured out range
• image autoscaling needs to be reviewed - not enough documentation available