Lecture: Principles of diamond-based X-ray sources

Dr. Roger Durst. Chief Technology Officer, Bruker AXS GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany

A case-study in the application of scientific principles in an industrial research and development environment is presented. Diamond has the highest heat conductivity of any solid material and the use of diamond heat spreaders in ultra-high-power electronics is now well established. The idea of a diamond-cooled microfocus X-ray sources is natural and has been attempted several times by various development groups around the world over the past 25 years. However, all these previous attempts failed to produce a working source. So, what are the challenges of diamond-based X-ray sources and how where these challenges finally overcome? A multi-disciplinary development team was established at Bruker to study this problem in detail and their work resulted in the first successful diamond-based X-ray source, the IµS DIAMOND which was commercially released in 2019. The process followed by the team in this project is described, highlighted some of the similarities and differences between industrial research and development and academic research.

Panel: Career Discussion with Bruker Scientists

Panelists: Dr. Roger Durst, Dr. Cary Bauer, and Dr. Matt Benning, Bruker AXS

The three Ph.D. scientists have had different careers with Bruker AXS. They are a Chief Technology Officer, Senior Sales Engineer, and Senior Applications Scientist. During the panel discussion they will describe their careers and share what influenced their career choices. Questions are welcome!