The single-photon counting concept of the DECTRIS detectors together with the noiseless readout is an extremely valuable feature, which allows accumulating image frames to result in an almost arbitrarily high dynamic range. This is of interest in small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) where the signal range may approach 10⁶. It is well recognized that the detector plays a crucial role for the performance of a SAXS beamline.
The PILATUS 2M detector was developed in close collaboration with the Coherent Scattering Group, Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut. The first detector system is installed at the new coherent SAXS beamline X012A.
Applications at this beamline for conventional SAXS experiments range from biological specimens like muscle fibers, viruses and macromolecular solutions, to problems in soft-condensed-matter physics like ordering of polymers or colloidal suspensions. A growing number of SAXS experiments is carried out in the field of proteins which cannot be crystallized and are thus studied in solutions. These are weakly scattering samples which suffer from radiation damage. The usage of a detector system with a high quantum efficiency and a good signal-noise ratio is very important for these studies.

Examples of SAXS patterns obtained with a PILATUS 100K detector recorded at the Austrian SAXS beamline at Elettra are shown in Figure 1 and 2. 
From the cross sections of the single images the high dynamic range and the lacking of noise are evident.

EMBL Poster by D. Svergun et al. about the PILATUS 500K