A 13-element Germanium detector and its associated electronics are requested for X-ray absorption spectroscopic studies of small sample volumes of dilute metalloprotein solutions. The system will be used in our studies on native and modified Cytochrome Oxidases, Ni and Fe enzymes isolated from methanogenic bacteria and Cytochrome c1 - Cytochrome c complexes. The detector will also be made available for use by 1 members of the National Biostructures PRT (NBPRT) at the National Synchrotron Light Source, Brookhaven National Labs. Use and maintenance of the instrument will be coordinated and supervised by the NBPRT. This detector will reduce the time required to obtain data by a factor between two and five compared to existing detectors by resolving the difference in energy between signal and background X-ray photons, which will improve efficiency and lessen radiation damage to the sample. The energy resolution of the detector is approximately 250 eV, and the maximum count rate is in excess of 106 per second.
