Molybdenum (Mo) radiation is most often the wavelength of choice for chemical crystallography and is most widely used for structure determination of a wide variety of samples. One of the reasons for Mo-radiation’s popularity is modern area detectors can cover reciprocal space to atomic resolution with just one detector setting for fast and convenient data acquisition.
Copper (Cu) radiation’s stronger interaction with the sample leads to stronger diffracted intensities. Bruker pioneered sophisticated data collection strategy software and initiated the renaissance of Cu-radiation for weakly diffracting organic molecules and absolute-configuration experiments.
Silver (Ag) radiation, even shorter in wavelength than Mo-radiation, has the benefits of lowest absorption and extinction effects, and allows data collection to higher resolution. Only with Bruker’s introduction of high-intensity Ag microfocus sources has the application of Ag-radiation become practical.
Indium (In) radiation is the shortest wavelength available for the home laboratory—exclusively from the METALJET source. Indium is an exciting new option for demanding experiments in solid-state chemistry, or high pressure and charge density research. Gallium (Ga) radiation is exclusive to the METALJET source. Like Cu radiation, Ga is ideal for weakly-diffracting organic samples and the determination of the absolute configuration.
