Intelligent Goniometer Head 2 (IGH2)

Rigaku first offered a motorized goniometer head for the home lab, the Microglide, in 2004. Used both on Rigaku home lab instruments and on many synchrotron beamlines around the world, the Microglide was instrumental in changing the way cutting edge crystallography was performed. Today many beamlines operate in a hands-free way with users safely separated from the dangerous X-ray beam.

Automated X-ray centering

Now with encoded motors inside, the IGH2 expands on the capabilities of its predecessor with automated X-ray centering. The goniometer performs scans at different grid points in order to reliably determine the point where the highest diffracted intensity is observed. X-ray centering is assisted by optical information to minimize scanning time.

Automated optical object centering

For any truly automated system, reliably getting the sample centered in the X-ray beam without user input is essential. While older approaches used basic loop centering, or scanning through the X-ray beam, the IGH2 uses the latest in optical image recognition techniques to detect sample holder presence, recognize the crystal and center, not just the loop, but objects found within them. This fast approach minimizes dead time and avoids use of X-rays on sensitive samples and allows unattended data collection of an entire queue of samples when used in conjunction with a sample mounting robot like the ACTOR 2 system.

Point & Click centering manual control

For a more manual approach, click on whatever you want to bring to the center of the goniometer and the IGH2 will move it into the beam. The IGH2 also allows fully manual movements for fine- tuning centering or handling more unusual cases.

Built-in magnetic mount

For compatibility with commonly used sample mount standards including SPINE and ALS the IGH2 comes with a built-in magnetic mount. Such mounts are commonly used by both small molecule and macromolecular crystallographers and automated systems such as the ACTOR system for automatic sample mounting. Conveniently, integrating the magnet also helps keep the size of the IGH2 to an absolute minimum.

Single or dual camera operation

Should you have an instrument supplied with dual video microscopes, the IGH2 is able to take advantage of both of them for faster centering without the need for rotations to get extra images. This allows centering to be completed typically within only 29 seconds. In a single camera setup, all that’s needed is a simple 90° phi rotation to get all the visual information needed.