Charge coupled device (CCD) area detector for on-line (40- to 80-ms) acquisition of Laue diffraction data from protein crystals

A direct charge coupled device (CCD) detector has been used to record Laue diffraction data from a protein crystal illuminated with a synchrotron radiation beam of continuous wavelengths 0.2 A < λ < 2.5 A. The exposure time used to record the data was 40–80 ms. The point spread factor of the detector was negligible. The sensitivity of CCD detectors at high photon energies is discussed in relation to other electronic area detector schemes. The lack of fine energy resolution of this or any other electronic area detector is not considered a limiting factor because of the high proportion of spots of single wavelength arising from single reciprocal lattice points. A time-resolved study of radiation damage to a crystal of concanavalin A was performed.