LOW TEMPERATURE SINGLE CRYSTAL DIFFRACTION AT THE SUNY X3 BEAMLINE AT THE NATIONAL SYNCHROTRON LIGHT SOURCE. Alex Darovsky, Robert Bolotovsky, Vladimir Kezerashvili and Philip Coppens. SUNY X3 beamline at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973 and Chemistry Department, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA

We have routinely collected large low-temperature imaging plate data sets at the X3A1 station at the SUNY X3 beamline at NSLS, using a Displex^reg. cryostat equipped with a special antiscatter device to minimize background (1). Sample temperatures down to ~17K can be reached. Diffraction data are processed with the "seed-skewness" method of peak integration (2). The performance of the "seed-skewness" method was evaluated by a numerical simulation technique. The equipment was used for electron density studies of the transition metal complexes Na₂[Fe(CN)₅NO 2H₂O and Cr(CN)₆Cr(NH)₃) and for low-temperature structural studies. In favorable cases reflections up to 2.0Å^-1 have been measured. The optimal data collection strategy as well as the detailed experimental arrangement will be discussed, and comparisons with a gas-flow system will be made.

1. A. Darovsky, R. Bolotovsky and P. Coppens, J. Appl. Cryst. 27, 1039 (1994).

2. R. Bolotovsky, M. A. White, A. Darovsky and P. Coppens, J. Appl. Cryst. 28, 86 (1995).

The SUNY X3 beamline at NSLS is supported by the Division of Basic Energy Sciences of the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-FG02-86ER45231). Research carried out in part at the National Synchrotron Light Source at Brookhaven National Laboratory which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Division of Materials Sciences and Division of Chemical Sciences.