The main experimental tool for investigating the atomic structure of monocrystals with x-ray diffraction is the four-circle diffractometer Gemini with CCD detector Atlas. This modern instrument installed at the beginning of 2008 ranges to the best machines of this category in terms of sensitivity and data collection speed. It allows for very exact measurement of satellite reflections of aperiodic crystals.
Gemini has two x-ray tubes, with copper and molybdenum anode, and it can switch automatically between them. The molybdenum tube provides x-rays of the wavelength 0.71073 Å collimated with fibre-optics collimator. The beam diameter can be set from 0.3 to 0.8 mm. This radiation can be used for studies of inorganic and organometallic materials including strongly absorbing samples. The copper tube provides x-rays of the wavelength 1.54184 Å collimated with thin-layers mirrors (collimator Cu Enhance Ultra) to a beam of the diameter 0.3 mm. The intensity of the focused beam is sufficient for the measurement of organic samples, from small molecules to well-diffracting proteins.
The laboratory of single-crystal x-ray diffraction provides measurements and calculations of crystal structures on the basis of scientific collaboration to a wide spectrum of users from Institute of Physics, Czech Republic and from abroad. The throughput is around 400 samples per year.
