Development of ZnTe Powder Phosphor for Protein Crystallographic X-ray Detectors

描述（由申请人提供）：我们建议开发一种用于蛋白质晶体学的x射线探测器的新型荧光粉，该荧光粉既可以在家庭实验室使用，也可以在同步加速器光束线上使用。这种荧光粉，ZnTe:O，将比目前几乎普遍用于这种探测器系统的传统Gd2O2S:Tb至少亮3倍。ZnTe:O也比Gd2O2S:Tb具有更快的时间响应。ZnTe的化学性质与ZnSe相似，phosptech已经成功地开发出了一种优秀的荧光粉ZnSe:Cu，CI。ZnSe:Cu，CI现在是由phosptech分销的商业产品。在过去的6年里，布鲁克AXS公司的化学晶体CCD探测器一直使用ZnSe:Cu，CI。布鲁克在美国和欧洲销售了几乎90%的化学晶体仪器，我们的ZnSe荧光粉一直是他们产品成功的重要原因，因为它深受布鲁克客户的喜爱。然而，由于它含有硒，这种荧光粉不适合蛋白质晶体学，其中硒是异常色散相位的首选元素。在用于相位的x射线能量（12,658eV）上存在的吸收异常会破坏这些测量。ZnTe将解决这个问题，因为碲的吸收异常处于不同的x射线能量（4,341eV和31,814eV）。理论上ZnTe荧光粉应该和ZnSe荧光粉一样亮，或者更亮。然而，由于碲的化学反应性比硒强，因此更难处理。因此，我们在制造ZnTe:O荧光粉方面的初步努力已经导致材料最初非常明亮，但在合成后不久，在水蒸气的存在下缓慢氧化。在这个项目的第一期中，我们将寻找提高ZnTe:0固有亮度的方法，并对新合成的ZnTe:O粉末进行钝化和保护，防止材料的化学变质。我们预计，在第二阶段，我们将开发生产这种稳定粉末的商业数量的手段，并制造大，高质量的荧光粉屏幕，可用于商业CCD探测器用于蛋白质晶体学。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): We propose to develop a new phosphor for X-ray detectors used in protein crystallography, which can be used both in the home laboratory and at synchrotron beamlines. The phosphor, ZnTe:O, will be at least 3 times brighter than the conventional Gd2O2S:Tb currently used almost universally on such detector systems. ZnTe:O will also have a faster time response than Gd2O2S:Tb. ZnTe is chemically similar to ZnSe, with which PhosphorTech has already successfully developed an excellent phosphor, ZnSe:Cu,CI. ZnSe:Cu,CI is now a commercial product distributed by PhosphorTech. ZnSe:Cu,CI has been used for the past 6 years by Bruker AXS Inc. of Madison, Wl for its chemical crystallography CCD detectors. Bruker sells almost 90% of all chemical crystallography instruments in the USA and Europe, and our ZnSe phosphor has been an important reason for the success of their product, since it is well liked by Bruker customers. However, since it contains selenium, this phosphor is inappropriate for protein crystallography, in which selenium is the preferred element for anomalous dispersion phasing. The presence of an absorption anomaly at exactly the X-ray energy (12,658eV) used for phasing, would ruin these measurements. ZnTe will solve this problem, since the tellurium absorption anomalies are at different X-ray energies (4,341eV and 31,814eV). Theoretically ZnTe phosphors should be as bright, or brighter, than ZnSe phosphors. However, since tellurium is more chemically reactive than selenium, it is more difficult to work with. Thus our preliminary efforts to make a ZnTe:O phosphor have resulted in material that is initially very bright, but slowly oxidizes in the presence of water vapor, shortly after synthesis. During Phase I of this project, we will find methods to increase the inherent brightness of ZnTe:0, and to passivate and protect newly synthesized ZnTe:O powder, to prevent chemical deterioration of the material. We anticipate that in Phase II we will develop the means to produce commercial quantities of this stabilized powder, and fabricate large, high quality phosphor screens that can be used in commercial CCD detectors for protein crystallography.