A ⁴He Cryostat for Synchrotron Single-Crystal Diffraction Experiments in the Temperature Range 1.6 to 300 K

A commercial ⁴He bath cryostat with variable temperature insert has been adapted for single-crystal synchrotron diffraction experiments in the vertical diffraction plane. A special design of the X-ray windows makes the full −10 to 180° 2θ range accessible. A base temperature of 1.6 K can be achieved. The temperature stability in the low-temperature region from 1.6 to 20 K amounts to ± 1 mK. Two internal and virtually play-free sample movements have been developed. When these are combined with the goniometers of the diffractometer, the following ranges for the Eulerian angles become accessible: −10 < ω < 100°, 75 < χ < 105°, −15 < φ < 15°, −180 < ψ < 180°.