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Industrial Liaison Group:
Tel: +44 (0) 1235 778797
E-mail: [email protected]
Technology transfer is the process of developing practical applications for the results of scientific research. The process can vary widely and can involve licensing agreements or setting up joint ventures and partnerships to share both the risks and rewards of bringing new technologies to market.
Other corporate vehicles, for example spin-out companies, are used where the host organisation does not have the necessary resources or skills to develop a new technology. However, the main aim of technology transfer is to take fundamental scientific discoveries and make them into marketable products so that the general public at large can benefit from the research as quickly and efficiently as possible.
Diamond is proud of its many and varied successful tech transfer projects. From optical mirrors, and custom built sample environments and holders, through to new innovative imaging techniques and advancements in data analysis, Diamond is constantly striving to be at the cutting edge of synchrotron science.
Many successful partnerships have arisen from these technological breakthroughs and one that stands out is the partnership that has formed with Quantum Detectors. Quantum Detectors is a spinout from Diamond Light Source and the Science and Technology Facilities Council. It was founded in September 2007 to promote the wider use of detectors developed for synchrotron radiation, LASER and other large scale facility applications. The unique benefit of commercialising technology developed by synchrotron facilities for synchrotron facilities is that the developers understand the precise requirements of the product intimately and hence are extremely well placed to design an ideal solution.
Quantum Detectors have had success worldwide with a number of products but the most well-known have to be the Xspress 3 and Merlin for EM.
Xspress 3
Xspress 3 was designed by QD, Diamond, and STFC and was developed to maximise the throughput and resolution of solid state fluorescence detectors by removing the bottleneck at the readout stage. With output count rates measured at 3.9 Mcps, this readout is easily 10X faster than the legacy systems most users have on their beamlines. Xspress 3 can open up the beamline to much faster data collection, its dynamic range can reduce the number of scans required and save large amounts of time with attenuation selection. Xspress 3 mini is the new compact version of the popular high-speed readout. It provides the same performance as a full sized Xspress 3, but at a lower price point and a smaller form factor. All of Diamond’s spectroscopy beamlines are equipped with Xspress 3.
Merlin for EM
Merlin for EM is a brand new interpretation of the existing Merlin detector and is the result of a collaboration with Glasgow University, developed at Diamond in the Detector Group and employing the Medipix chip. The Merlin for EM Hybrid Pixel Detector (HPD) is an advanced detector development in the field of Electron Microscopy, combining direct detection of electrons and rapid readout in a pixelated format ideal for applications such as 4D STEM and electronic diffraction. This detector is installed on the JEOL GrandARM 300 at the electron Physical Sciences Centre (ePSIC) at Diamond where it is now providing academic and industrial users of the electron microscope with super-fast detection capabilities.
“Quantum Detectors is excited to continue to work with the Diamond Light Source Detector Group, and are currently involved in developments of the Medipix, Timepix and Xspress product lines. We’re looking forward to making the cutting edge technology developed at Diamond Light Source available to scientists around the world.”
Dr Liam O’ Ryan, Quantum Detectors
We’re always happy to discuss any enquiries or talk about ways in which access to Diamond’s facilities and services may be beneficial to your business so please do give us a call on 01235 778797 or send us an e-mail. You can keep in touch with the latest development by following us on Twitter @DiamondILOor LinkedIn
Diamond Light Source is the UK's national synchrotron science facility, located at the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus in Oxfordshire.
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