A focusing Weissenberg camera with multi-layer-line screens for macromolecular crystallography

Abstract

A conventional Weissenberg camera [Weissenberg (1924). Z. Phys. 23, 229–238] has been modified for macromolecular crystallography. This camera system consists of a doubly bent LiF monochromator, a newly designed Weissenberg goniometer with multi-layer-line screens and its controller. The camera is useful for recording many reflections up to high resolution on a film with high signal-to-background ratio from a crystal with large unit-cell dimensions without losing any of the diffracted beams by screens. The resulting photograph is very easy to index, and the ratio of partially recorded reflections to fully recorded reflections decreases in comparison with an oscillation camera. The multi-layer-line screens are especially practical with a continuous X-ray beam such as synchrotron radiation where both wavelength and band pass can be selected properly. The preparation of a point-focusing monochromator from a single-crystal of LiF is described, and the recording of anomalous dispersion profiles is discussed.