marYX2G Data Collection System
Take a state-of-the-art micro-beam sealed tube generator with a specially designed high-performance optics, add a mardtb "desktop beamline" and a mar345= image plate detector to it plus a cryo-cooler, put it into a shiny cabinet and you are getting a truly powerful yet very affordable complete X-ray data collection system - just perfect for single crystal crystallography, powder diffraction, SAXS, WAXS, diffuse scattering and other fields. No water and electrical installations required - it will fit anywhere in your lab.
But there's one more thing: forget about those maintenance budgets you are used to see elsewhere!
Components:
Generator: |
Incoatec ![]() |
Optics: | State-of-the-art Incoatec multi-layer optic producing a spot size at the sample of < 250 by 250 µm FWHM (specs: see below). Other configurations, e.g. for a parallel beam or a Mo source, are available on request. |
Detector: |
|
Goniostat: | mardtb “desktop beamline” multi-purpose goniometer system, optionally with the “easymount” or the marcsc sample changer extensions. |
Cryo-cooler: | Optional Oxford Cryosystems “Cryostream 800” or “Cobra” low temperature unit. |
Table/enclosure: | A functional and stable table with plenty of space for all electronics and attachments. Optional table top radiation enclosure. |
Highlights:
Dependable: | Every single component of the system is renowned for its reliability, the one for the mar345 detector and the mardtb goniostat being proverbial. |
Performance: | Let’s face it: would you have believed that a generator running at 30 Watts can beat another one running at 5000 Watts?. |
No electrical installations: | The entire system can be used on standard single-phae 220/110 V wall sockets with a 16A fuse. |
No water cooling: | Cooling of the anode is accomplished by a built-in air/air heat exchanger. No water cooling required! |
Low power consumption: | The generator runs at 50 kV / 0.6 mA, i.e. 30 Watts, less than a bright light bulb! |
No filament replacement: | The sealed-tube of the generator has a life-time of 3-7 years and does not require maintenance during its lifetime. |
Compact design: | The footprint of the entire system is 1.7 x 1 m². Basically, it will fit anywhere in your lab. |
Low noise: | Due to limited cooling requirements, the noise generated by the system is far inferior as the one from rotating anode generators |
Low price tag: | Complete crystallography setups have never been more affordable! |
Low maintenance costs: | No water, little power consumption, no replacement filaments, no routine maintenance – you won’t find an X-ray equipment that is cheaper to keep running… |
Performance:

Does a micro-beam sealed-tube generator allow to evaluate the diffraction power of small crystals?
The answer clearly is: yes, it does. This is because the generator delivers a very small beam with such a high brilliance that even very small crystals sized < 50 µm will see enough X-ray photons. This is achieved by a highly optimized combination of source and optics parameters. Please read the application notes for further details!
Application Notes:
In a second application note mar.AN070207 from Feb 07, 2007, a direct comparison between the marμX system and a rotating anode generator using the same experimental conditions (same crystals, exposure times, detector, etc.) revealed that small crystals produce superior data with the marμX system while the results for larger crystals are virtually identical.
In a third application note mar.AN20Jun08 from Jun 20, 2008, we compared the performance of the Xenocs FOX2D 10_30P optics and the latest model of the FOX3D 14_39P optics, which features an optimized high precision ellipsoidal substrate and a state-of-the-art multilayer to achieve a beam with improved focusing properties and high flux density. With the FOX3D optics we observed more than a 2-fold increase in observed diffraction as compared to the FOX2D optics, in particular when looking at small crystals. This brandnew optics narrows the gap to modern rotating anode generators, again.
In a fourth application note mar.AN28Oct10 from Oct 28, 2010, we compared the performance of the Xenocs GeniX3D Cu HF source running at 30 W with the previous Genix Cu VHF source running at 50 W. The new source entirely replaces the VHF model. It features a new tube and newly designed optics. In the application note we describe data collections from small molecule crystals of various forms and sizes. The new source proves to deliver more usable X-ray photons at the sample in the order of magnitude of 1.5. This makes the choice of a small scale generator setup even more attractive.
Specifications:
Please click on headlines to expand.
Optics: Incoatec
Beam size at sample: | ≤ 250 x 250 μm |
Beam divergence: | ≤ 5 x 5 mrad2 |
Total flux: | > 6 x 108 photons/sec |
Peak flux density at focal spot: | > 1 x 1010 photons/sec/mm2 |
Focal distance: | 600 mm from source |
Anode cooling: | air-cooling by fan |
Mirror protection: | diaphragm vacuum pump with interlock to shutter |
Detector: mar345s image plate
Detector surface diameter: | 345 mm |
Pixel size: | 150 μm standard or fast read-out, 100 μm upon request |
Cycle times: | 27-80 sec (depending on diameter and read-out mode) |
Dynamic range: | 17 bits (1-131000) |
Sensitivity: | 1.5 X-ray photons equivalent |
Goniostat: mardtb system with automatic X-ray beam alignment
Configurations: |
|
Cryo-cooler: Oxford Cryosystems Cryostream 800 or Cobra
LN2 auto-refill system: | Weight based level control ("marfill") |
Experimental table:
Dimensions: | 1700 x 1000 x 800 mm (w:d:h), stainless steel |
Material: | magnetic table top and aluminum table frame |
Downloads:
- Product brochure (pdf: 1.6 MB)
- Product flyer (pdf: 0.3 MB)
- Drawing of table and enclosure (pdf: 109 kB)
-
Application note mar.AN260107 (pdf: 990 KB)
"Sulfur-SAD-phasing of hen egg lysozyme with Cu-radiation obtained in-house with a GeniX micro-beam generator" -
Application note mar.AN070207 (pdf: 611 KB)
"Comparison of a conventional rotating anode generator with a Xenocs GeniX micro-beam generator" -
Application note mar.AN20Jun08 (pdf: 1.6 MB)
"Comparison of the Xenocs 2D and 3D optics on a marμX data collection system" -
Application note mar.AN28Oct10 (pdf: 1.9 MB)
"Comparison of the GeniX3D Cu HF beam delivery system with the GeniX Cu VHF system"