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Bringing you closer to new science
Creating detector technology to evoke new discoveries to help world leading scientific facilities
Quantum Detectors is all about you and your work. Scientist or researcher, microscopist or analyst, you deserve the best possible data from your TEM- or synchrotron-based research. So we bring you the DED and readout tools you need to make sure you get it. We save you time, money and stress, while you make the next great discoveries.
Our story
Quantum Detectors was founded in 2007, a technology spin-out from the Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) and Diamond Light Source (DLS), the UK’s synchrotron radiation facility. Our core mission was a clear one. Make our cutting-edge technology accessible to the global science community. And that’s what we’ve done.
The company today is a market-leading provider of advanced direct electron detectors and readout solutions employed in TEM and synchrotron radiation facilities throughout the world. Serving scientific and commercial research sectors, we have gained a reputation for customer service and support with our lifetime product care, continuous product improvement and bespoke solution capability.
Quantum Detectors is now recognised as being at the forefront of 4D STEM analysis, having the largest installed base of DEDs supporting all major TEM brands, including Hitachi, JEOL and Thermo Fisher Scientific. And with several hundred installations operational in the field, our readout systems are leading the way in accessing high-quality beamline data.
Our journey to bring new technology to you
Quantum Detectors was founded with its first employee. March, 2007
The company was provided with initial funding and tasked with commercialising technology developed at the SRS synchrotron at Daresbury Laboratory.
First Xspress 3 commercial units installed, 2012
Diamond Light Source were the first recipients of a commercial Xspress 3 system from QD, and went on to put them on over half of their beamlines since.
Xspress 3 mini developed, 2015
In response to customer requests for a smaller more nimble digital pulse processor, we redesigned the Xspress platform to create Xspress 3 mini. The hardware is now portable between detectors and the software redesigned to allow a user friendly recalibration in just a few minutes.
1st MerlinEM installation, 2016
A collaboration between QD and the University of Glasgow, the first MerlinEM direct electron detector for electron microscopy use was installed at the University of Antwerp in the group of Prof Jo Verbeeck.
100 Xspress 3 installations, 2019
We installed our 100th Xspress 3 system, cementing its position as the leading readout system for analysis of fluorescence detector data at synchrotrons worldwide.
30 employees at QD, 2021
As our number of installations have grown, so has the requirement for more people at QD. Our team has expanded to suitably serve our scientific community, to ensure reliability and good customer service are key to the QD name.
Meet the team that make our technology possible
Like any great high-technology company, Quantum Detectors brings together that unique blend of in-depth technical and commercial knowledge and experience. A highly qualified, integrated team that knows how to communicate with customers and solve their most pressing problems.
Partners who help our mission
Quantum Detectors is partnered with STFC and DLS in the on-going development of cutting-edge DED and readout system products. At the same time, we collaborate closely with larger scale facilities like the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, and academic institutions like the University of Glasgow, Scotland. Such strategic relationships ensure we remain at the forefront of new industry thinking.
We’ve had a Merlin detector installed on our JEOL GrandArm 300 since 2016, and it is a crucial component of our user capability at ePSIC. The rapid readout, zero noise, and high dynamic range of the camera have really opened up the possibilities for 4D STEM and other applications, particularly under low dose conditions. Quantum Detectors have been great to work with as they are very receptive and responsive to our feedback, and have continued to develop the detector and software to better suit the scientific community. We have now installed a further MerlinEM 4R camera on our new JEOL microscope ‘Ruska’ at the Rosalind Franklin Institute, for use in ptychography of biological samples
Making our mark in science
Insights
Frame-based and event-based detection explained
Understand the benefits of frame-based and event-based hybrid pixel direct electron detectors, to choose best detection technology for your research project.
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News
The first MerlinEM RDP has been successfully installed
The first MerlinEM RDP detector, developed to further enable scientific capability in the electron microscopy community, has been successfully installed.
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Event
The first MerlinEM User Meeting
The first MerlinEM User Meeting hosted by Quantum Detectors took place on Tuesday 21st November, at Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, UK, bringing together members of the global electron microscopy and MerlinEM user communities.
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Open the door to new science with Quantum Detectors
Quantum Detectors is about you. Scientist, researcher, microscopist or analyst, you deserve the best possible data from your TEM- or synchrotron-based work.
